Books You Must Read

Parenting Beyond Belief: On Raising Ethical, Caring Kids Without Religion - A wonderful resource for secular parents

2010-04-27T17:30:00.009-07:00

Foreword by Michael Shermer, Ph.D.

Contributors include Richard Dawkins, Penn Jillette, Julia Sweeney, and Dr. Donald B. Ardell

It's hard enough to live a secular life in a religious world. And bringing up children without religious influence can be even more daunting. Despite the difficulties, a large and growing number of parents are choosing to raise their kids without religion.

In Parenting Beyond Belief, Dale McGowan celebrates the freedom that comes with raising kids without formal indoctrination and advises parents on the most effective way to raise freethinking children. With advice from educators, doctors, psychologists, and philosophers as well as wisdom from everyday parents, the book offers tips and insights on a variety of topics, from mixed marriages to coping with death and loss, and from morality and ethics to dealing with holidays. Sensitive and timely, Parenting Beyond Belief features reflections from such freethinkers as Mark Twain, Richard Dawkins, Bertrand Russell, and wellness guru Dr. Don Ardell that will empower every parent to raise both caring and independent children without constraints.

A wonderful resource for secular parents
Parenting Beyond Belief is a wonderful resource for secular parents. It combines personal reflections and practical advice, while exploring the values and virtues behind morality. Especially helpful are the sections on raising secular children in the midst of religious neighbors and on the value found in wondering and questioning.

In our society, it is helpful for non-believers to become religiously literate. Ideas are given for exploring various religions with children to understand both the good and the harm that can come from religious institutions. There is also a wonderful section exploring holidays, including the pros and cons of teaching children to believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

The book is not entirely focused on religion or philosophy, but rather on raising free thinking children. For example, chapter eight, Jaw-Dropping, Mind-Buzzing Science, explores the wonder and meaning that is found through scientific discovery. Also in this chapter, an essay on evolution clears up some popular misconceptions and puts evolution into terms that are easy for anyone to understand.

The heart of the book discusses morality as it applies to both being and doing good. There are explorations of the process for developing emotional empathy and moral reasoning, as well as discussions about what values are at the core of human ethics. While this book is largely a collection of essays from contributing authors, the editor, Dale McGowan, introduces each section and weaves the themes into an enjoyable and thoughtful read.

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The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon - Absolutely unforgettable!

2010-04-27T17:30:00.007-07:00

Sei Shonagon was a contemporary and erstwhile rival of Lady Murasaki, whose novel fictionalizes the court life Shonagon describes. is a collection of anecdotes, memories of court and religious ceremonies, character sketches, lists of things the author enjoyed or loathed, places that interested her, diary entries, descriptions of nature, pilgrimages, conversations, poetry exchanges--indeed, almost everything that made up daily life for the upper classes in japan during the Heian period. Her style is so eloquent, her observations so skillfully chosen, and her wit so sharp that even the smallest detail she records can attract and hold the attention of any modern reader.

Absolutely unforgettable!
Even after 1000 years, Sei Shonagon lives & breathes & fascinates in the pages of her pillow book. And what a memorable woman! Witty, infuriating, a sensitive observer of lifes little surprises & disappointments, an appalling snob -- but theres no ignoring her. Personally, I love the random nature of her entries, as the mood & occasion catch her, from her delightful lists to her often cutting comments about the other court ladies. Beneath all the precise & delicate form, there was obviously quite a hothouse of personal politics!

And she has a real eye for the telling detail, the revealing incident. Depending on the circumstances, she can evoke empathy, spit fire & venom, or make you want to shake her furiously. A perfect window into another time & way of life, and always a pleasure to dip into, this is an excellent edition. The translation is clear & lyrical without being artificially poetic, and ample notes are provided for the Western reader.

Most highly recommended!

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Organic Chemistry (7th Edition) by Leroy G. Wade - Excellent Intro Book

2010-04-27T17:30:00.005-07:00

Organized around functional groups, this book incorporates problem-solving help, orientation features, and complete discussions of mechanisms. Wade explains concepts without taking the unnecessary short cuts that often lead to misconceptions—his hallmark problem-solving approach includes unique strategies and hints to help readers focus on the individual steps of each reaction and how they contribute to the overall reaction. Wade also employs the most efficient method of mechanism boxes with its two-tiered approach: Mechanism and Key Mechanism Boxes. He delineates the 20 "Key" mechanisms that comprise nearly all of the mechanisms students will encounter. Therefore, the book takes one additional and important step in helping readers identify and grapple with the smallest number of the most important concepts to understand.
Acid-Base Chemistry, Lewis Structures, Bronsted, Electron Structure (shell, orbitals, magnetic shielding), Bonding (formation, patterns, polarity, MO), Resonance, Stereochemistry, MO Theory, Conformational analysis, Thermodynamics, Kinetics, Reaction Coordinate diagrams, Chirality, Regioselectivity, Synthesis, Aromaticity, Carbonyl chemistry.
A comprehensive reference for chemistry professionals.

Excellent Intro Book
Dr. Skip Wade has written a great intro book. He is very clear on all his explanations, and covers the chapter material with wonderful simplicity. He has a well balanced mix of theory, synthesis and mechanisms. The book is one of my personal favorites. Dr. Jim Romano Orgoman.com CEO

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The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Churchs Conservative Icon by John Dominic Crossan - The First Paul

2010-04-27T17:30:00.003-07:00

Bestselling authors of The Last Week and The First Christmas, Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan join once again to present a new understanding of early Christianity—this time to reveal a radical Paul who has been suppressed by the church.

Paul is second only to Jesus as the most important person in the birth of Christianity, and yet he continues to be controversial, even among Christians. How could the letters of Paul be used both to inspire radical grace and to endorse systems of oppression—condoning slavery, subordinating women, condemning homosexual behavior? Borg and Crossan use the best of biblical and historical scholarship to explain the reasons for Pauls mixed reputation and reveal to us what scholars have known for decades: that the later letters of Paul were created by the early church to dilute Pauls egalitarian message and transform him into something more acceptable. They argue there are actually Three Pauls in the New Testament: The Radical Paul (of the seven genuine letters), The Conservative Paul (of the three disputed epistles), and The Reactionary Paul (of the three inauthentic letters). By closely examining this progression of Pauls letters—from the authentic to the inauthentic—the authors show how the apostle was slowly but steadily deradicalized to fit Roman social norms in regards to slavery, patriarchy, and patronage. In truth, Paul was an appealing apostle of Jesus whose vision of life in Christ—one of his favored phrases—is remarkably faithful to the message of Jesus himself.

The First Paul
I am a Christian seeking to know more regarding scripture. I wanted to know more about the apostle Paul. Marcas Borg provided wonderful insight into the personality, and character of Paul. His explanations included why did he address the issues he did to the churches he helped establish. Also, Marcas Borg explained the culture of the day of Paul, the accepted religions, and the role of women. I have a better understanding of how to approach scripture when reading my bible and studying scripture.

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The World Almanac and Book of Facts, 2007 (World Almanac and Book of Facts) by World Almanac Books - World Almanac and Book of Facts

2010-04-27T17:30:00.001-07:00

Book Description: Since its debut in 1868, The World Almanac and Book of Facts has become the bestselling American reference book of all time, with more than 80 million copies in print. This essential household and workplace desk reference is the most useful reference book known to modern man, according to the L.A. Times. Renowned New York Times crossword puzzle editor Will Shortz calls it his #1 reference work for facts.

Plus, this year, for the first time ever, The World Almanac offers readers free bonus content online at www.worldalmanac.com, through a password provided with the book. World Almanac buyers can peruse classic World Almanac essays, facts and figures from past presidential elections, sports biographies, and cover art from The World Almanacs 139-year history. Below youll find exclusive examples of some of the bonus content youll find online.

1868 Edition
1889 Edition
1953 Edition

Wimpy Mascot Names

Advertisement from 1933 Edition

World Almanac and Book of Facts
This is a Christmas staple for my husband. I had forgotten that I bought one through Amazon in 2007.
I have never had a problem with any book that came directly from Amazon.com. I would be careful about
ones that come from other sources!

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Tethered: A Novel by Amy MacKinnon - A beautifully rich read!

2010-04-27T17:29:00.025-07:00

Clara Marsh is an undertaker who doesn't believe in God. She spends her solitary life among the dead, preparing their last baths and bidding them farewell with a bouquet from her own garden. Her carefully structured life shifts when she discovers a neglected little girl, Trecie, playing in the funeral parlor, desperate for a friend.

It changes even more when Detective Mike Sullivan starts questioning her again about a body she prepared three years ago, an unidentified girl found murdered in a nearby strip of woods. Unclaimed by family, the community christened her Precious Doe. When Clara and Mike learn Trecie may be involved with the same people who killed Precious Doe, Clara must choose between the stead-fast existence of loneliness and the perils of binding one's life to another.

From the Hardcover edition.

A beautifully rich read!
Reading Amy MacKinnon's novel, "Tethered", has been a joy! I curled up next to the fire and drank up
every sentence, often reading a line twice because I had never heard a particular description sound so
true. The story is well paced, the characters rich and appealing. The sense of warmth in a world of cold pulled
me in. I highly recommend this read!

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Critique of Pure Reason, Abridged (Hackett Publishing Co.) by Immanuel Kant - Incredibly Difficult, but Highly Rewarding

2010-04-27T17:29:00.024-07:00

Eric Watkins abridgement of Werner Pluhars masterful translation makes an ideal introduction to Kants Critique of Pure Reason. Key selections include the Preface in B, the introduction, the Transcendental Aesthetic, the Second Analogy, the Refutation of Idealism, the first three Antinomies, the Transcendental Deduction in B, and the Canin of Pure Reason. A concise introduction provides biographical information and describes the nature of Kants projects and the contribution of each major section of the Critique to it.

Incredibly Difficult, but Highly Rewarding
I have only finished reading the book for the second time about a week ago. I read the opening seventy pages or so perhaps four times to get a clear grasp of what Kant was saying. Even now I am not able to debate on specific details of how he arrives at his conclusions, but I can more or less grasp the conclusions themselves. This isn't something I do regularly, this is something very few writers merit at all. The reason you will end up rereading large sections in minute detail is twofold. The first part is that Kant's philosophy is very complex. This in and of itself isn't such a bad thing, after all he is reconciling empiricism with rationalism and does a superb job of doing so. He was highly effective in closing most of the philosophical schism that had arisen over the issue. The one major complaint I have, and the second reason the book is so difficult, is that Kant is rather trigger-happy with the archaic terms and the use of academic jargon in his work. You won't be able to dive right into this, though I will say that after about page 250-300 the work gets much, much easier to understand.

Having said that, there are huge redeeming features in the book. One is that despite his painfully dull writing style, his points are concise and he often repeats and rephrases them in addition to using countless examples. In that respect, this beating of dead horses is akin to reading Aristotle, but unlike Aristotle you won't grasp what is being said right off the bat. So even a layman like I am can understand this work if they are dedicated enough.

The aim of this Critique is stated in the title. It is a critique of pure reason. One of Kant's main aims in this book is to establish what we can know. He criticizes pure rationalism as not answering any of its own questions and in fact producing nothing but unanswerable paradoxes and he criticizes pure empiricism as being unable to support its claims. He works toward a synthesis of the two philosophies by examining what we can know and concludes that rational thought is perfectly acceptable as long as it remains withinthe confines of possible experience. As such, questions about God or about the universe being infinite or finite are unanswerable as we cannot experience these things.

Additionally, take what he says about space and time with a grain of salt. His writings on these subjects made up my one major qualm with his philosophy.

Still, this is considered to be possibly the greatest work of philosophy in the modern age, and it deserves to be read. Fortunately he isn't one of those type of people who can just be quoted out of context.

My final suggestion, ultimately, is that you start with something else. The Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics was Kant's own attempt to condense and simplify his philosophy, and although I (arguably) made the mistake of delving head first into this book not everyone should approach his work without a friendly suggestion to pick up a thinner and simpler treatise first.

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Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory by David W. Blight - The Civil War in American Memory

2010-04-27T17:29:00.023-07:00

No historical event has left as deep an imprint on Americas collective memory as the Civil War. In the wars aftermath, Americans had to embrace and cast off a traumatic past. David Blight explores the perilous path of remembering and forgetting, and reveals its tragic costs to race relations and Americas national reunion. In 1865, confronted with a ravaged landscape and a torn America, the North and South began a slow and painful process of reconciliation. The ensuing decades witnessed the triumph of a culture of reunion, which downplayed sectional division and emphasized the heroics of a battle between noble men of the Blue and the Gray. Nearly lost in national culture were the moral crusades over slavery that ignited the war, the presence and participation of African Americans throughout the war, and the promise of emancipation that emerged from the war. Race and Reunion is a history of how the unity of white America was purchased through the increasing segregation of black and white memory of the Civil War. Blight delves deeply into the shifting meanings of death and sacrifice, Reconstruction, the romanticized South of literature, soldiers reminiscences of battle, the idea of the Lost Cause, and the ritual of Memorial Day. He resurrects the variety of African-American voices and memories of the war and the efforts to preserve the emancipationist legacy in the midst of a culture built on its denial. Blights sweeping narrative of triumph and tragedy, romance and realism, is a compelling tale of the politics of memory, of how a nation healed from civil war without justice. By the early twentieth century, the problems of race and reunion were locked in mutual dependence, a painful legacy that continues to haunt us today.

The Civil War in American Memory
If war among the whites brought peace and liberty to blacks, what will peace among the whites bring?" Fredrick Douglass, an African American and leading abolitionist during the Civil War era, realized the importance of this question at the conclusion of the war. The Confederacy may have been defeated on the battlefield, but how Americans entered the meaning of the war into their historical consciousnesses had major implications for the United States. In his classic essay titled "What is a Nation?" Ernest Renan discussed the concept of memory and how citizens' remembrances of events contribute to nation-building. Furthermore, he asserted that a nation requires a great deal of forgetting. In Race and Reunion, David Blight, a professor of History and black studies at Amherst College, examines three different visions, or memories, that Americans formed in regards to how they interpreted the meaning of the Civil War. These three different memories competed with one another and in the end one memory gained widespread acceptance while the essence of the Civil War was forgotten. As a result of this, the North and South put their differences behind them and reconciled, but at the same time the races divided.

Blight's monograph illustrates that different memories - the reconciliationist, emancipationist, and followers of the "Lost Cause" - were held by different groups of people following the war. The Civil War caused an enormous amount of death and destruction and as a result the government needed to decide if they wanted the country to heal or if they wanted to impose justice on the South. Frederick Douglass believed, "There was a right side and a wrong side in the late war" and wanted the federal government to implement policies that would protect the recently freed slaves and bring them to an equal status with their former masters. For a brief period following the war, the Radical Republicans seemed to have some success with securing rights for the blacks through the federal government. However, as followers of the "Lost Cause" began to promulgate their beliefs, the meaning of the Civil War began to be forgotten and historical amnesia began to set in. Through violence and measures taken to write history to support the Southern cause by placing the blame of the war on the North, the emancipationist vision of the war began to fade.

Blight focuses on examining the reconciliationist vision of the war and how this memory became enmeshed in the minds of most Americans. Albion Tourgée, a literary figure of the time that adopted an emancipationist vision, asserted, "Only fools forget the causes of war." Yet forgetting the meaning of the war is exactly what happened in the fifty years following America's second revolution. Facing the difficulty of securing rights for the emancipated slaves in the South, the Republicans curtailed their commitment to African Americans. No other event signifies this retreat than the Compromise of 1877 in which Samuel Tilden agreed to let Rutherford Hayes take the presidency under the condition that the last remaining Union soldiers would leave the Southern states. This event legitimized allowing the sections to reconcile while the rights of the blacks were denied. This sense of reconciliation can be found amongst the soldiers themselves. Rather than focusing on the causes of the war, past soldiers, both North and South, found commonality in the suffering, bravery, and honor that they experienced during the war. The photo that Blight includes on page 389 illustrates this idea. Taken during the semi-centennial celebration of the battle of Gettysburg in 1913, the photo shows ex-Confederate and Union soldiers clasping hands over the stone wall located on the field where Pickett's charge took place. Clearly, the meaning of the war was gradually forgotten as the nation healed and the sections reconciled at the expense of African Americans.

Blight's greatest contribution is that he shows the importance of the role that memories play in the formation of a nation. Like Renan, he understands that how major events have been remembered, or forgotten, have major implications for a nation. Nation-building is a continuous, ongoing process. The ways in which people choose to remember significant events are directly related to this process. Blight uses various statements from a wide variety of individuals as evidence of how different people interpreted the meaning of the Civil War. For example, Blight includes many statements from Frederick Douglass and W.E.B. Du Bois to show how they were dissatisfied with the prevailing memory that the majority of Americans held of the Civil War. Special attention is also given to the contrasts between Du Bois and Booker T. Washington. When Blight discusses the memory that was conjured from the followers of the Lost Cause, he mentions the role that Mildred Lewis Rutherford, historian of the United Daughters of the Confederacy from 1911 to 1916, had in writing a history of the war that alleviated the South of any wrongdoing. Central to the "Lost Cause" memory is Nelson Page, a Southern writer who showed, in a twisted sort of history, that slaves actually enjoyed living on the plantation and were happy to serve the owners. Moreover, D. W. Griffith's film Birth of Nation attempted to glorify the Ku Klux Klan and portrayed them as the saviors of a war torn south. Blight discusses these various individuals and shows how each contributed to the formation of the three memories that are central to his monograph. Hindsight has shown that the reconciliationist memory gained the most acceptance following the Civil War. As Blight explains in his prologue, "In the end, this is a story of how the forces of reconciliation overwhelmed the emancipationist vision in the national culture, how the inexorable drive for reunion both used and trumped race." Hence, "The essence of the war was...sacrificed on the altar of reunion."

Although the emancipationist memory faded into the subconsciousness of our nation's memory, it would appear once again a century after the Civil War. W.E.B. Du Bois was so insightful when he postulated, "The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." In a massive attempt to gain rights for African Americans in the 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement erupted and delivered the emancipationist vision to the forefront of American thought. Martin Luther King Junior realized what reconciliation had meant for the black race when he stated, "One hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free." Blight's Race and Reunion should be read by everyone. Writing in a clear, flowing pose and using a wide variety of sources including literature, Memorial Day orations, and monuments, he shows that the formation of different memories after the Civil War has had a deep impact on American nation-building. Moreover, and perhaps more significant, he explains the harm that was done to African Americans as the meaning of the Civil War was largely forgotten in the years that followed its conclusion.

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The Last Man on the Moon: Astronaut Eugene Cernan and Americas Race in Space by Donald A. Davis - Recalling the angry alligator

2010-04-27T17:29:00.021-07:00

That Geno Cernan was commander of Apollo 17, the final manned moon mission, was a fitting conclusion to a flying career that included two previous stints in space (Gemini 9 and Apollo 10). His frank, earthy memoir of his years at NASA adds another entertaining, informative volume to the burgeoning shelf of books illuminating the inner workings of the space program and the people who made it happen. Coauthor Don Davis, a veteran journalist, helps Cernan craft a colloquial prose style that nicely captures the competitive, macho personality that seemed virtually mandatory for astronauts in the 1960s and 70s. Cernan candidly depicts the reckless streak that twice led to needless injuries jeopardizing his spot on a mission. He also acknowledges the stresses endured by his ex-spouse Barbara as she struggled to be the perfect astronaut wife--cheerful and uncomplaining for the cameras while he experienced all the fun and adventure of the job. And it sure was fun, as becomes clear in the exciting descriptions of his spacewalk from Gemini 9 and stroll around the moon from Apollo 17. Detailed accounts of each flight, including technical problems and personal tensions (particularly with Apollo 17 teammate Jack Schmitt, distrusted because he was a scientist, not a test pilot), remind readers that the space program is a human endeavor, with inevitable failures that make the triumphs that much sweeter. --Wendy Smith

Recalling the angry alligator
Gene Cernans book is one of those which you begin to read when going to bed and ... cannot sleep until the The End! Calmly and steadily, the right words describing the important aspects of life and career of one of the few astronauts who went twice to the Moon. In the description of the EVA on Gemini 9 mission, we are almost out of breath while reading about the problems Cernan had. And we can recall the angry alligator and the complete history of Apollo XVII.

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Honeymoon in Purdah: An Iranian Journey by Alison Wearing - First book our club all agreed on

2010-04-27T17:29:00.019-07:00

Twenty years after the Iranian revolution, most westerners still imagine Iran to be a warren of anti-American rhetoric, terrorism, and fanatical repression, especially of women. Not surprisingly, only an unusual woman would choose to travel there, and Alison Wearing is certainly that. I refused to believe that such a place of unalloyed evil truly existed, she writes. I like to look for saints where there are said to be demons. Since it is the only country the world traveler could not imagine going to alone, she takes her fussy, gay roommate Ian, along with a fake wedding certificate and a story that theyre on their honeymoon. Then she dons a black cloak, scarf, and chador (the full body covering required by Shiite Islam) for a five-month journey from the Caspian Sea (breaking into the Shahs ramshackle summer palace) to the holy city of Qom (and Khomeinis shrine) to a hidden Zoroastrian prayer site (where she faints from heat stroke). From the moment she steps into the country, shes surrounded by Iranians touched by her eagerness to learn about their country. There is the housewife who challenges her to a game of Ping-Pong in her long robe and scarf, offering food to her guests in between killer serves, and the Anglican minister who is wholly enthralled by the art of living. There is the couple who spirit her away to a mountain oasis when she complains of the heat (leaving a message for Ian, Mister Canada, we take your wife. We make her cold), and the mother who tries to marry off her doctor son, joking that Wearing cant leave not without my doctor (a reference to the American film Not Without My Daughter).

Wearing has a gift for connecting with others and the humility to let them tell their own stories. She also sees the hilarity in the most absurd situations. As it turns out, so do the Iranians, which makes for some wonderful laughs. Wearing is also a poet, and she unveils the Iranians with innocence and grace--their hospitality, their quick acceptance and easy intimacy, and the real life of women beneath the veil. And while there are strict defenders of the revolution, most are philosophical: Friends, please forgive us, but our country is not perfect.... it will make us very happy if you enjoy. Keep your hearts in our people, my friends. We are strangers, but we try to be kind. This is a gem of a debut. --Lesley Reed

First book our club all agreed on
In almost 3 years of gathering, this was the first book our book club universally loved. Some loved it because it is a travelogue, some because of the suspense, some because of the humor, and others because it is an inside glimpse into another culture. I have purchased this book and recommended it to many people. It is a very enjoyable read.

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The Man Who Would Be King: The First American in Afghanistan by Ben Macintyre - The Real Story Behind Kipling's Story - and Connery's Movie

2010-04-27T17:29:00.017-07:00

The Riveting Account of the American Who Inspired Kiplings Classic Tale and the John Huston Movie

In the year 1838, a young adventurer, surrounded by his native troops and mounted on an elephant, raised the American flag on the summit of the Hindu Kush in the mountainous wilds of Afghanistan. He declared himself Prince of Ghor, Lord of the Hazarahs, spiritual and military heir to Alexander the Great.

The true story of Josiah Harlan, a Pennsylvania Quaker and the first American ever to enter Afghanistan, has never been told before, yet the life and writings of this extraordinary man echo down the centuries, as America finds itself embroiled once more in the land he first explored and described 180 years ago.

Soldier, spy, doctor, naturalist, traveler, and writer, Josiah Harlan wanted to be a king, with all the imperialist hubris of his times. In an extraordinary twenty-year journey around Central Asia, he was variously employed as surgeon to the Maharaja of Punjab, revolutionary agent for the exiled Afghan king, and then commander in chief of the Afghan armies. In 1838, he set off in the footsteps of Alexander the Great across the Hindu Kush and forged his own kingdom, only to be ejected from Afghanistan a few months later by the invading British.

Using a trove of newly discovered documents and Harlans own unpublished journals, Ben Macintyre tells the astonishing true story of the man who would be the first and last American king.

The Real Story Behind Kipling's Story - and Connery's Movie
I loved the Michael Caine and Sean Connery movie, The Man Who Would Be King, which came out when I was in high school. The John Huston film was nominated for four Academy Awards. Christopher Plummer played the role of a young journalist by the name of Rudyard Kipling - and the film was based on the Kipling's short story by the same name.

But who knew that Kipling's literary bon mot was inspired by a true story - and that truth truly is stranger than fiction?

In 1989, Ben Macintyre was sent to Afghanistan to cover the final stages of the 10 year war between the Soviets and the CIA-backed Mujahideen guerrillas. While there he read Kipling's tale of Daniel Dravot (written in 1888 but looking back to the middle of the Victorian Age, the 1820s and 30s), who made it to the heart of Afghanistan disguised as a Muslim holy man to become king of a fierce tribal empire. It was several years later, while combing through stacks of books in the British Library that Macintyre first discovered the name of a man who "reputedly inspired Rudyard Kipling's story, 'The Man Who Would Be King.'"

So began Macintyre's search for an elusive footnote in history - all his papers were assumed to have been destroyed in a house fire in 1929 - that culminated in The Man Who Would Be King, a fascinating slice of history that is relevant to today's most pressing geopolitical hotspot. Following clues that led him from Britain's war archives to the Punjab, San Francisco, and Pennsylvania, Macintyre was finally able to find a box hidden away in the basement of the archives in a tiny U.S. museum of this mysterious man's birthplace. At the bottom of the box was a "document, written in Persian and stamped with an intricately beautiful oval seal: a treaty, 170 years old, forged between an Afghan prince and the man who would be king."

The first American in Afghanistan had many titles: Prince of Ghor, Paramount Chief of the Hazarajat, Lord of Kurram, personal surgeon to Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Five Rivers, King of Afghanistan ... and many others. His highness Halan Sahib - who in 1839, enthroned on a bull elephant, raised his standard and made claim to the Hindu Kush - was known back home in Chester County, Pennsylvania, as Josiah Harlan. The man who followed Alexander the Great's winding mountain path 21 centuries later and led an army made up of Afghan Pathans, Persian Qizilibash, Hindus, Uzbeks, Tajiks, and Hazaras who were descendents of the Mongolian Hordes, a pacifist Quaker of Chester County, Pennsylvania.

If you like history, biographies, and tales that seem too fanciful to be true, you'll love The Man Would Be King.

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Jackie After Jack: Portrait of the Lady by Christopher Andersen - She wasn't perfect but she was polished

2010-04-27T17:29:00.015-07:00

Christopher Andersens biography Jackie After Jack: Portrait of the Lady is one steamy read. Andersen claims that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis had affairs with Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, William Holden, Warren Beatty, Bobby Kennedy, and JFKs former deputy secretary of defense. He writes that she battled anorexia, was both cheap and greedy, wore big sunglasses partly to cover up bruises inflicted by Aristotle Onassis, tried to sign Princess Diana to a book contract, offered Camilla Parker Bowles $2 million to tell all, and dropped Michael Jackson, whose book she edited, when he stood accused of pederasty. Andersen suggests that the cancer that killed Jackie may have been related to her habits: 40 to 60 cigarettes a day, four decades of carcinogenic black hair dye, and countless amphetamine and carcinogenic steroid injections in the 1960s. Many of the juiciest stories come from anonymous sources, and, according to Newsweek, Brandos biographer claims the alleged Jackie tryst never happened. Some readers may feel that Andersens breezy assertion that Castro murdered JFK may not fully settle the question. But many will want to check out what ex-People magazine writer Andersen has to say. --Tim Appelo

She wasn't perfect but she was polished
There was alot of intrigue in Jackie Kennedy's personal life in New York after JFK died. In fact, alot of it was like a soap opera with all its innuendos and intrigue. Jackie had alot of attractive qualities ... and she did things that weren't so attractive .... because she was human. Admiration is complex. One can admire many things about someone but not others. It's fascinating to uncover that underneath it all, she was human.

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Forget Me Not: A Memoir by Jennifer Lowe-anker - A memoir you shall not forget.

2010-04-27T17:29:00.013-07:00

Having suddenly lost her husband, Alex Lowe, in a tragic mountaineering accident, Jennifer Lowe struggled to hold her family together and deal with her grief. At the same time Alexs best friend, famed climber Conrad Anker, was dealing with the terrible loss as well as feelings of survivors guilt. Jenni and Conrad gradually, and unexpectedly, found solace in one another. Forget Me Not spans continents and tells the story of three people whose lives intertwine to a degree they could never have imagined. Jennifer Lowe-Anker is an artist whose often whimsical paintings are rendered in vivid color and rich texture inspired by her Montana upbringing. * A personal account of a great loss in the climbing world * An elegant, gripping story of tragedy, as well as unexpected joy * An entrée into the emotional world of climbers and their families * Benefits the Nepal-based Khumbu Climbing School

A memoir you shall not forget.
Forget Me Not is a beautiful flower found in Montana. It is also the title of a beautiful memoir of beautiful lives forever intertwined: husband, wife, friends, family and love. It is an autobiography of one of America's premier mountaineers, a memoir of the love of his wife and children, and a story about the love of friends and family for one who has died. Normally this mix of goals would be impossible in a book or at least leave many parts behind. But Jennifer Lowe-Anker in Forget Me Not has accomplished all these goals and more.

Alex Lowe was a remarkable man. His exploits on rock, ice and snow are well known throughout the climbing community. What Jennifer brings out is the other side of Alex few knew. She quotes liberally from his letters to her and their children while he was on expeditions showing a brilliant mind with a wonderful communication skill as well as a deep love for the family he leaves behind.

As a friend, lover and wife of Alex Lowe for 18 years she knew him better and than anyone. She shares that love and intimate knowledge of his feats, his drive and his excitement with all of us in her book. She also shares herself. In what is probably one of the most open books about the life and the death of a husband and father. This book is truly remarkable.

This book deserves the awards it has garnered from the National Outdoor Book Awards. More importantly this book deserves a place on your book shelf as it finds a place in your heart.

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The Unscratchables by Cornelius Kane - A delightful satire of the cat and dog worlds.

2010-04-27T17:29:00.011-07:00

CRUSHER McNASH is the police forces most fearless detective, a barrel-chested bull terrier with a biscuit-thin temper and a barbed-wire tongue.

CASSIUS LAP is the finest agent in the Feline Bureau of Investigation, an imperturbable Siamese with a mind as sharp as a can opener.

SAN BERNARDO is their territory, a seething metropolis where fat-cats prance in the exclusive island enclave of Kathattan while working dogs wallow in the stinking squalor of the Kennels.

When a couple of Rottweiler gangsters are brutally murdered, Crusher McNash tries to convince himself that its nothing unusual -- just another underworld territorial dispute. But after the sniffer squad identifies a feral-cat killer, McNash is forced to do the unthinkable -- team up with a prissy Siamese from the FBI. The trail leads from junkyards to gambling dens, from cat prisons to baronial estates, in the process unraveling an awesome conspiracy involving domination techniques, population control, and the megalomaniacal ambitions of fox media magnate Phineas Reynard.

Both a hard-bitten crime story and a sharp-fanged satire, The Unscratchables is the genre-bending mystery of the year.

A delightful satire of the cat and dog worlds.
What at first seemed to be just another murder mystery, turned out to be a delightful satire of everything cat and dog. For instance, the Siamese cat detective, Cassius Lap, is a member of the FBI (Feline Bureau of Investigation) and lives in the metropolis of Kathattan. The bull terrier dog detective, Crusher McNash, fights crime in an area called The Kennels, utilizing "sniffer squads". Every page uses words evocative of cats, dogs or other animals, giving the reader a laugh a minute.

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Oakdale Confidential by Anonymous - My review

2010-04-27T17:29:00.009-07:00

This is the novel that everyone in Oakdale is talking about. This is the scandal they cant ignore. Its a major event in Oakdale -- a black-tie gala honoring the Marron familys fifty years of support for Oakdales Memorial Hospital. But high spirits are cut short when patron of honor Gregory Marron Jr. is delivered in his limo dead on arrival, from an apparent heart attack. Three women in the crowd have reasons of their own to suspect murder. . . . Event organizer Katie Peretti never understood her boyfriend Mike Kasnoffs reasons for not attending the party -- until now. Wrongly implicated in a crime against the Marrons, Mike served a stiff sentence, and has nursed a simmering rage ever since. Maddie Coleman, the teenaged sister of the limos driver, Henry, knows that her brother owed Marron thirty-thousand dollars. She also knows he couldnt pay him back, and had only one recourse for permanently erasing the debt. Carly Snyders suspicions are more personal. The wife of police detective Jack Snyder, Carly was one of Marrons mistresses. In a heated moment she wanted her shameful past dead and buried -- a wish her husband possibly honored. Now Katie, Maddie, and Carly, each of them desperate to protect the man they love, are crossing paths in an investigation thats uncovering more poisonous secrets in Oakdale than they ever imagined. The means, motives, and suspects are shifting with each new twist -- and one of these determined women may not live to see the killer revealed.

My review
Not sure what I'm supposed to review...I haven't read the book yet...it was in perfect condition!

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Do Not Deny Me: Stories by Jean Thompson - Quintessentially American stories do justice to internal worlds

2010-04-27T17:29:00.007-07:00

Jean Thompson, heralded as Americas Alice Munro...one of the best contemporary short-story writers by Kirkus Reviews, delivers twelve exquisite new stories that combine her beloved trademarks of dark humor, seductively sharp wit, and uncanny observations on human nature. Do Not Deny Me is a fictional primer on how Americans live day to day: Thompsons characters -- a middle manager in the midst of midlife crisis, an urban single visiting her best friend turned suburban mother, a grieving woman looking for guidance -- are instantly recognizable in their predicaments, foibles, and sensibilities.

A brilliantly wrought exploration of the myriad circumstances that Americans are experiencing right now, this superlative collection perfectly captures the joys and amusements, trials and sorrows of its fictional inhabitants. Do Not Deny Me should be savored, word by word.

Quintessentially American stories do justice to internal worlds
One of the best collection of American short stories I have read in recent years, Jean Thompsons Do Not Deny Me, highlights the internal worlds Americans inhabit, even in the most prosaic settings. I have not previously read anything by Jean Thompson, but was shocked I havent come across her work before, given the weight and talent these stories exhibited. Where have I been? Why havent I come across her before?

No matter. I have now.

Her stories, quintessentially American,focus on characters that make up middle class America: a single, middle-aged, woman visiting her married house-wife college friend at Thanksgiving; an aging English professor who is being edged out by up-and-coming theory obsessed colleagues; a successful salesman who counters his mid-life crisis by building a tree-house. On the surface these stories sound flat, but Thompson picks away at that surface to reveal the supreme aching loneliness that swims beneath. Isolation runs through all her stories as a constant current, but sometimes her characters are able to counter this by finding meaning and small, measured pleasures within the banality of everyday life.

Rather shorter version of my feelings on this collection would be as follows: Read it late into the night. Finished it in 2 days. Not a light-hearted summer read,BUT an exceptionally satisfying read. Highly recommended.

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Sashenka: A Novel by Simon Sebag Montefiore - Historical Fiction at its Best!! An Outstanding Read!

2010-04-27T17:29:00.005-07:00

In the bestselling tradition of Doctor Zhivago and Sophies Choice, a sweeping epic of Russia from the last days of the Tsars to todays age of oligarchs -- by the prizewinning author of Young Stalin.

Winter 1916: St. Petersburg, Russia, is on the brink of revolution. Outside the Smolny Institute for Noble Girls, an English governess is waiting for her young charge to be released from school. But so are the Tsars secret police...

Beautiful and headstrong, Sashenka Zeitlin is just sixteen. As her mother parties with Rasputin and their dissolute friends, Sashenka slips into the frozen night to play her part in a dangerous game of conspiracy and seduction.

Twenty years on, Sashenka is married to a powerful, rising Red leader with whom she has two children. Around her people are disappearing, while in the secret world of the elite her own family is safe. But shes about to embark on a forbidden love affair that will have devastating consequences.

Sashenkas story lies hidden for half a century, until a young historian goes deep into Stalins private archives and uncovers a heartbreaking tale of betrayal and redemption, savage cruelty and unexpected heroism -- and one woman forced to make an unbearable choice.

Historical Fiction at its Best!! An Outstanding Read!
Simon Montefiore is a historian of Russia and an award-winning author of "Potemkin: Catherine the Great's Imperial Partner," "Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar," and "Young Stalin." With "Sashenka" Mr. Montefiore has applied his vast knowledge to the world of historical fiction. His expertise really enhances this novel, filled with characters that come to life on the page, along with an absorbing and moving storyline that spans the end of Russia's Tsarist regime, the Bolshevik Revolution, life under Lenin and Stalin, and, finally, to 1994, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The author's ancestors escaped the Tsarist Empire, an event which sparked his interest in Russia. In Sashenka he writes about a fictional woman and her family. However, he has stated that this book was inspired by "many stories, letters and cases that he found in archives and in interviews over a period of ten years."

It is 1916 when the reader meets Sashenka Zeitlin, the 16 year-old daughter of a wealthy Jewish arms merchant in St. Petersburg. Her father, Samuil, is the proprietor of the Anglo-Russian Naptha-Oil Bank of Baku and has ties to the Tsarist regime. In 1915, the grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaivich declared all Jews potential German spies and had them driven out of their villages. Although a Jew, Zeitlin has the right to stay in St. Petersburg because he is a merchant of the First Guild. Just before WWI he was elevated to the rank of the Emperor's Secret Councillor.

Sashenka's unstable mother idolizes and socializes with the notorious mystic Rasputin, called the "Mad Monk" by his detractors. And Sashenka, influenced by her uncle Mendel, has become a staunch Marxist. Even at her young age, she is a Bolshevik operator who risks her life on more than one occasion for the upcoming and inevitable Revolution. Her motto is "All or nothing," taken from one of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's heroes. She firmly believes in "a class struggle that would progress through set stages to a workers' paradise of equality and decency."

Eventually, she is arrested for her activism and is subsequently pursued by a Tsarist officer who futily attempts to turn her into an informer. When the Romanov regime falls she becomes a secretary to Lenin.

The 2nd and longest part of the novel takes place in Moscow, 1939. Josef Stalin rules the country with an iron fist. During the late 1930s he had launched a great purge, (also known as the "Great Terror"), a campaign to eradicate the Communist Party of people accused of sabotage, terrorism, or treachery. He extended it to the military and other sectors of Soviet society. Targets were often executed or imprisoned in Gulag labor camps. The fortunate were exiled. In the years following, millions of ethnic minorities were murdered or sent into exile.

When this part of the narrative opens, Shashenka has become a beautiful woman, the wife of a senior Communist officer, Vanya, and the mother of two beautiful children. She is a model Soviet woman who works as the editor of the "Soviet Wife and Proletarian Housekeeping magazine." The family enjoys the privileges of their high rank in the Party. Oddly, their lifestyle is not dissimilar to the one Sashenka lived before the Revolution. Their friends and acquaintances are the amongst the Communist Party elite, and Stalin and Beria even attend one of Sashenka's and Vanya's parties - a tense situation at best. A stray word or false rumor could cost one his/her life, which seriously detracts from the pleasantries of the family's existence, indeed the existence of all Russians.

I don't want to include "spoilers," but let it suffice to say that the lives of Sashenka and her family change drastically during this period.

Sashenka's story is hidden for half a century when a young woman, a historian, is hired in 1994, to discover what happened to our protagonist and her family.

This is a tale of family, love, politics, injustice and heartbreak. Indeed, I was moved to tears at times. With the exception of Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's novel "The Gulag Archipelago," I have never really understood the depths of horror that unfortunates faced in the forced labor camps, spread all over the Soviet Union, especially in Siberia. And what a blood-spattered history that is.

"Sashenka" is a gripping read. The plot is exceptional. This novel is historical fiction at its best and is certainly worthy of 5 stars!
Jana Perskie

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Chic Metal: Modern Metal Jewelry to Make at Home by Victoria Tillotson - Easy to Follow Jewelry Making

2010-04-27T17:29:00.003-07:00

All that glitters is not gold–sometimes it's copper, silver, or brass. With Chic Metal, you can design and create necklaces, earrings, and even cocktail rings out of metals that sparkle and shine. Crafting with metal is easier than you might think. You can make many of these 30 inspiring projects with simple tools you already own, such as wire cutters, pliers, a hammer, and a file. If you love jewelry making and are seeking a new challenge, look no further–you're ready for some heavy metals.

Easy to Follow Jewelry Making
I absolutely love this book and it proves that anyone can be crafty. I am not the most creative person I know, but I have always wanted to try a craft and jewelry making seemed like a perfect fit. This book is so easy to follow and I loved my jewelry creations. If you have ever toyed with wire or beaded jewelry, you are more advanced than I was, and will excel at these projects. What I love most about this book is how easy the projects are to follow because the instructions are step by step and anyone can do it. I love how I feel after making one of these jewelry designs, and the book is well written for even the newest crafter. This book is a must for jewelry making, and you will love all that you can make in simple steps.

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Frommers London 2007 (Frommers Complete) by Danforth Prince - Frommer review

2010-04-27T17:29:00.001-07:00

Frommers London 2007 is the only guide youll need to plan the perfect trip to London. Well show you the citys best, including the world-class theaters and pub scene. Youll get insider tips on shopping on Oxford Street, enjoying an afternoon tea at the Ritz, rowing on the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park, and dining on pheasant at Rules, possibly the citys oldest restaurant.

Youll find candid reviews of a huge selection of accommodations in all price ranges, from chic boutique hotels to homey B&Bs. Its all accompanied by dozens of color maps, the latest trip-planning advice on everything from bargain airfares to rail passes, money-saving tips, and a complete shoppers guide. Youll even get a free color fold-out map and an online directory that makes trip-planning a snap!

Frommer review
Although I haven't read it cover-to-cover, this looks very useful. My son is spending the spring semester at a university near London and this was a gift for him.

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The Botany of Desire: A Plants-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan - Makes Botony Very Interesting

2009-12-10T17:13:00.017-08:00

Working in his garden one day, Michael Pollan hit pay dirt in the form of an idea: do plants, he wondered, use humans as much as we use them? While the question is not entirely original, the way Pollan examines this complex coevolution by looking at the natural world from the perspective of plants is unique. The result is a fascinating and engaging look at the true nature of domestication.

In making his point, Pollan focuses on the relationship between humans and four specific plants: apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes. He uses the history of John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) to illustrate how both the apples sweetness and its role in the production of alcoholic cider made it appealing to settlers moving west, thus greatly expanding the plants range. He also explains how human manipulation of the plant has weakened it, so that modern apples require more pesticide than any other food crop. The tulipomania of 17th-century Holland is a backdrop for his examination of the role the tulips beauty played in wildly influencing human behavior to both the benefit and detriment of the plant (the markings that made the tulip so attractive to the Dutch were actually caused by a virus). His excellent discussion of the potato combines a history of the plant with a prime example of how biotechnology is changing our relationship to nature. As part of his research, Pollan visited the Monsanto company headquarters and planted some of their NewLeaf brand potatoes in his garden--seeds that had been genetically engineered to produce their own insecticide. Though they worked as advertised, he made some startling discoveries, primarily that the NewLeaf plants themselves are registered as a pesticide by the EPA and that federal law prohibits anyone from reaping more than one crop per seed packet. And in a interesting aside, he explains how a global desire for consistently perfect French fries contributes to both damaging monoculture and the genetic engineering necessary to support it.

Pollan has read widely on the subject and elegantly combines literary, historical, philosophical, and scientific references with engaging anecdotes, giving readers much to ponder while weeding their gardens. --Shawn Carkonen

Makes Botony Very Interesting
This is a great book, that goes very well with the other books Michael Pollan has written (In Defense of Food and The Omnivores Dilemma). A little different style from those two, as it takes the view from the plant, rather than our view of the plant. Great look at how the plants listed in the book (apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes) actually have a hold on us, as opposed to the other way around.

Great book, and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in botany, gardening, organic food, or anything else related to that.

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Hawaii: A Novel by James A. Michener - Hawaii

2009-12-10T17:13:00.015-08:00

In Hawaii, Pulitzer Prize–winning author James Michener weaves the classic saga that brought Hawaii's epic history vividly alive to the American public on its initial publication in 1959, and continues to mesmerize even today.

The volcanic processes by which the Hawaiian Islands grew from the ocean floor were inconceivably slow, and the land remained untouched by man for countless centuries until, little more than a thousand years ago, Polynesian seafarers made the perilous journey across the Pacific and discovered their new home. They lived and flourished in this tropical paradise according to their ancient traditions and beliefs until, in the early nineteenth century, American missionaries arrived, bringing a new creed and a new way of life to a Stone Age society. The impact of the missionaries had only begun to be absorbed when other national groups, with equally different customs, began to migrate in great numbers to the islands. The story of modern Hawaii, and of this novel, is one of how disparate peoples, struggling to keep their identity yet live with one another in harmony, ultimately joined together to build America's strong and vital fiftieth state.

Hawaii
In the late sixties during the summer between 8th and 9th grades, I was gleaning through the relatively few paperback novels in my parents library for anything interesting to read. It was my good fortune to stumble upon a copy of James Micheners Hawaii on an upper shelf. It looked formidable at more than an inch thick, but I fearlessly plunged in with all the confidence I had assumed from earlier tackling J.R.R. Tolkeins Hobbit and Lord of the Ring series. To my delight, I was also taken for a life-changing ride into what was then a truly an entirely different universe.

Not only was Hawaii a vivid, flowing introduction to the history, the people and promise of Hawaii, to a third-generation offspring of Japanese-American grandparents such as myself, whose entire family was interned in US government relocation centers during World War II on the mainland, Micheners book was riveting and revolutionary! I must have read and re-read it six, maybe seven times in a row. To this very date of all books Ive read since, this novel stands alone.

More significantly, in the heyday of the Dick & Jane readers, Hawaii was the first novel I read prior to age 21, which featured a cast of Asian-American characters as fully-fleshed out and on equal footing to those of the Caucasian-American characters, a precious and affirming detail for which Ill be eternally in this memorable and most-productive authors debt.

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Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark (Modern Library Paperbacks) by Jane Fletcher Geniesse - Extraordinary!

2009-12-10T17:13:00.013-08:00

Never mind that upon her death in 1993, the then 100-year-old Dame Freya Stark rated a three-column obit in The New York Times. Mention her name to most Americans, and it will elicit a Freya who? The tales and travails of this romantic traveler, who marched alone into the Middle East from Persia to Yemen, discovering lost cities and creating an anti-Nazi intelligence system along the way, are captured in this compelling biography by former New York Times reporter Jane Fletcher Geniesse.

The author unveils not the fearless wanderer whose mappings and 30 books brought Stark awards from the likes of the Royal Geographical Society and made her a darling of British society. Instead Stark is seen as humble, insecure, and forever caught in the role of perpetual alien--be it when the English-born child grows up in Italy, where her mother lives in scandal, or when she plunges alone into the East, a feat never before accomplished by a Westerner.

An unwilling iconoclast whose love of travel, she would say, began as an infant when her father carried her in a basket over the Dolomites, Stark longed for the social security of the times: marriage and children. Proposals fell through, on occasion her beloved was married, or the romantic emotions she felt went unrequited--and besides, as a friend later pointed out, marriage would have spoiled her with its confinements. Rising above depression, self-imposed ostracism, and her numerous illnesses, Stark learned Arabic and how to climb mountains, map, partake in geographical digs, and find a niche in strange cultures.

Initially ridiculed for her passionate fondness of the Middle East, her writings ultimately generated vast interest for that mysterious part of the world, where she was surprisingly embraced, made privy to political movements closed to most foreigners, and even shown precious Islamic documents. At times a nurse, a war correspondent, a negotiator, Stark was a one-woman revolution of her time. Geniesses intoxicating documentation of her life not only serves to stir up new interest in Starks many books; it also ensures that the name Freya Stark will live on long after her obituary is but a scrap of yellowed, crackling newsprint. --Melissa Rossi

Extraordinary!
A well written, well researched book about a fearless and adventurous woman who lived a most interesting life. Especially interesting--though not surprising--were how the insecurities she lived through as a child molded her as an adult. Her near financial poverty as a child in a world where peers and relatives lived sumptuous lives gave her a ravenous appetite for luxury as an adult. Her beautiful, emotionally remote mother and mostly absent father had her looking for love from the unlikeliest of men during most of her adult years. This book shouldn't be missed even if you aren't particularly interested in the part of the world she adored.

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I Will Bear Witness: A Diary of the Nazi Years, 1933-1941 (Modern Library Paperbacks) by Victor Klemperer - Bearing Witness as a Jew in Nazi Germany

2009-12-10T17:13:00.011-08:00

When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Victor Klemperer (1881-1960), honored as a frontline veteran of World War I, was a distinguished professor at the University of Dresden. A scant few months later he was merely a Jew, protected from deportation to a death camp only by his marriage to an Aryan. He suffered every other indignity to which German Jews were subjected, from losing his job to having his drivers license revoked to being denied permission to own a pet, and all are recorded with bitter clarity in his diary entries, which cover the years 1933 to 1941. (A second volume continuing through 1945 will be published in English in 1999.) The German edition of this book caused a sensation when it was published in 1995, and its easy to see why: the relentless, quotidian nature of Nazi racism comes through forcefully in Klemperers litany of daily humiliations and insults, a painful chronicle of situations in which readers can readily imagine themselves. Like Anne Frank, but with a more adult understanding of political fanaticism and human weakness, he makes the abstract horror of genocidal persecution very intimate, very personal, and very real. --Wendy Smith

Bearing Witness as a Jew in Nazi Germany
As an educated Professor of Philology, Victor Klemperer documents life as a Jew in Nazi Germany. The very act of keeping this diary was grounds for his demise.
The essence of these incredible documents, is that it records the tightening of control of the Jewish people under Nazism. The progressive pogroms took away simple things such as going to a movie or taking a ride on a tram. The taking of one's own home and living in a communal Jewish home further degraded the Jewish people. The simple fact that each had to wear the yellow star which indeed put all Jews into harms way.
Mr Klemperer was forced out of his professorship because he was a Jew. Even though he was an honorable World War I Veteran, he was forced to live on a half pension.
The only thing that saved Victor Klemperer was his Aryan wife Eva. She never abandoned Victor as I'm sure other wives in similar circumstances did. Looking at this, I think is an incredible act of love by Eva. Her subjucation to Nazi Life living with a Jew for 12 years was indeed a severe prison term.
The diaries are edited to delete repetition. However several things are constantly repeated. Victor was always at death's door with an ailing heart. The other repetition was he and his wife's constant physical hunger.
This set of diaries should be required reading for anyone who is a serious student of 20th century history.

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No Great Mischief: A Novel by Alistair MacLeod - A great novel

2009-12-10T17:13:00.009-08:00

For the MacDonalds, the past is not a foreign country. This Cape Breton clan may have lived in the New World since 1779, when Calum Ruadh (the red Calum) and his wife, 12 children, and dog landed. Scotland, however, remains their true home. So profound is their connection to their lost land that on brief visits they find themselves welcomed by strangers. When one descendent tells a Scotswoman that shes from Canada, she is offered a gentle rejoinder: That may be.... But you are really from here. You have just been away for a while. In some ways this is unsurprising, since the MacDonalds either have deep black hair or their ancestors coloring. And those with the latter have eyes that were so dark as to be beyond brown and almost in the region of glowing black. Such individuals would manifest themselves as strikingly unfamiliar to some, and as eerily familiar to others. Another sport of nature? Many are fraternal twins, including Alistair MacLeods narrator, Alexander, and his sister.

But No Great Mischief is far more than the straightforward saga of one family over the generations. Instead the author has created a painfully beautiful myth in which the long-ago is in many ways more present than modern existence. Even in the last decades of the 20th century, the MacDonalds fall into Gaelic--its inflections, rhythms, and song--with deep nostalgia. This is a family that is used to composing itself in the face of disaster. They often assure one another, My hope is constant in thee, and in the light of their many losses, the clan must cling to its motto.

No Great Mischief begins with Alexanders visit to Toronto, where his eldest brother now subsists on a diet of drink and memories. The narrator, a successful orthodontist, doesnt have much to do with the former but is unable (or unwilling) to escape the latter. As the novel proceeds, Alexander fills in his family history, including such key episodes as his great-great-grandfathers self-exile from Scotland. Though Calum Ruadh had intended to leave his dog behind, it broke away and tried to catch up with him. MacLeod piercingly captures the animals struggle as her master first tries to make her head for shore and then--realizing she wont desert him--spurs her on. Throughout No Great Mischief various people recall this incident, an emblem of intensity, hope, and dependence. A descendant of the bitch is also on hand when Alexanders parents and one of his brothers disappear under the ice on a cold spring night. She persists in searching for her people and tries to protect their lighthouse from the new keeper, receiving in return four bullets into her loyal waiting heart. When Alexanders grandfather hears of her death, he uses a phrase that becomes one of the books litanies, It was in those dogs to care too much and to try too hard.

This is a MacDonald characteristic as well. A good deal of No Great Mischiefs strength stems from scenes of longing and despair--for those who die for a lost cause, whether in 1692 when one leader is killed (the redness of his hair dyed forever brighter by the crimson of his blood) or in an Ontario uranium mine where one brother is decapitated. MacLeod evokes his clan, and the elemental beauty of their landscape, in quiet, precise language that gains power with each repetition. (A sentence such as All of us are better when were loved comes to acquire a near proverbial ring.) If he occasionally tips his hand too much, pressing home his point that present-day prosperity isnt all its cracked up to be, no matter. I doubt that this inspired and elegiac novel will ever leave those who are lucky enough to read it--proving after all the persistence of the clann Chalum Ruaidh. --Kerry Fried

A great novel
I read this book over a month ago and it still haunts me every day. This is a story with subtle power. Its about who we are. Its about memory, remembering, memorialising, tradition and continuity. It reminds me of a lady I met in a small depopulated country setting - she spoke of her ancestors, stating theyre all still here.
The story is told with a sparse poetry rendolent of the landscape where the events take place. It is beautifully and carefully crafted. This book has touched me deeply.

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Julias Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking by Julia Child - The greatest ever, and her culinary last will and testament

2009-12-10T17:13:00.007-08:00

What would you give to see the notes Julia Child keeps in her handwritten loose-leaf kitchen reference guide? Your wish is granted! This clever little volume was inspired by Childs notebook, compiled from her own trials, remedies, and errors.

Organized by large category and technique, its a very handy reference guide for anyone reasonably comfortable in the kitchen. Each section contains a master recipe followed by variations. The emphasis is on technique, so if you occasionally find yourself trying to remember at what temperature to best roast a duck, the best way to cook green beans and keep them green, or how to save your hollandaise, then this is the book for you. And what good is a reference guide without an index? As always, Child comes to our rescue with a fantastic, comprehensive index, 19 pages long for 107 pages of text, so we can find the answers to lifes burning questions in a flash.

Part of what makes Julia Child such an icon is that she can describe a complicated dish, and in the next breath convince us to make it. Classic Chocolate Mousse, Sabayon, Scalloped Potatoes Savoyarde, and Butterflied Leg of Lamb sound manageable when they follow recipes for Roast Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, and Scrambled Eggs. And with Childs help, they are. Quick, snappy answers for both basic and complicated cooking questions make this a work well never outgrow. And if Julia can use a cheat sheet, so can we! Fans of Child will love that her personality shows through in comments like, Dont crowd the pan... or youll be sorry, and, to introduce her Basic Vinaigrette Dressing, I use the proportions of a very dry martini. Eight pages of photos taken by her husband, Paul, including one of Child with the famous dancing goose, make this even more of a treasure.

If there is anyone qualified to offer kitchen wisdom, it must be Julia Child. After a lifetime of cooking and teaching, her knowledge is a perfect gift for fans, novices, or anyone responsible for putting dinner on the table every night. --Leora Y. Bloom

The greatest ever, and her culinary last will and testament
In just over a hundred pages, Julia Child wrote down everything she thought absolutely essential to cooking the way she taught her viewers to cook over four decades of television experience. From her very first TV dish, boeuf bourgignonne, to authentic French bread, to roast chicken, soufflés, and quiche, to steaks and cakes and french fries and vegetables and even American-style biscuits, the best of a dozen cookbooks and many TV shows appear here in a simple, readily accessible book that provides the basics of French cooking, American-style.

Mastering The Art of French Cooking is epic, From Julia Childs Kitchen is cozy and pleasantly rambling, Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home is reflective and lots of fun in its tag-teaming approach. All of those, and many others, are essential reads for any serious cook, useful for both the quick-and-dirty weeknight cook and the epic gourmand. But when you need the best, written by the best, and you need it now, this barely-larger-than-a-FAQ book should be right at your fingertips.

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My Cat Spit McGee by Willie Morris - my cat spit mcgee

2009-12-10T17:13:00.005-08:00

With endearing humor and unabashed compassion, Willie Morris--a self-declared dog man and author of the classic paean to canine kind, My Dog Skip--reveals the irresistible story of his unlikely friendship with a cat. Forced to confront a lifetime of kitty-phobia when he marries a cat woman, Willie discovers that Spit McGee, a feisty kitten with one blue and one gold eye, is nothing like the foul felines that lurk in his nightmares.

For when Spit is just three weeks old he nearly dies, but is saved by Willie with a little help from Clinic Cat, which provides a blood transfusion. Spit is tied to Willie thereafter, and Willie grows devoted to a companion who wont fetch a stick, but whose wily charm and occasional crankiness conceal a fount of affection, loyalty, and a rare and incredible intelligence. My Cat Spit McGee is one of the finest books ever written about a cat, and a moving and entertaining tribute to an enduring friendship.

my cat spit mcgee
Have read this a number of times ... ditto Morris's dog book ... continue to order both as gifts for first-time cat/dog-owners ... may they never go out of print!

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Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life by Sissela Bok - Exactly as Promised

2009-12-10T17:13:00.003-08:00

A thoughtful addition to the growing debate over public and private morality. Looks at lying and deception in law, family, medicine, government.

Exactly as Promised
From the expected delivery time to the condition of the book, everything promised by this provider was carried out.

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Ocean Sea by Alastair McEwen - Like a rich chocolate cake

2009-12-10T17:13:00.001-08:00

In Alessandro Bariccos celebrated debut, it was silk that exerted a fatal attraction. This time its the ocean, whose watery charms cause an entire cast of characters to convene at the isolated Almayer Inn. The guests include a seductress, an eccentric professor, and a painter with a pronounced penchant for metaphysics. Theyre soon joined by the beautiful young daughter of a local aristocrat, whos been stricken with a mysterious illness. In a sense, however, all these characters are suffering from maladies--psychological, existential, erotic--which makes the Almayer Inn a kind of Magic Mountain with beachfront footage.

The author is a renowned opera critic in his native Italy. Perhaps this accounts for his love of linguistic arias, which can overpower the plot of Ocean Sea. When Baricco gets rolling, of course, his intricately worked prose is a delight. Even the inn itself, situated alone on a promontory, gets the red carpet treatment: So alone it was there, it seemed a thing forgotten. It was almost as if a procession of inns, of every kind and vintage, had passed by there one day, skirting the coast, when, out of tiredness, one had detached itself from the rest, and, as its travelling companions filed past, it decided to stop on that slight rise, yielding to its own weakness, bowing its head and waiting for the end. At his best, Baricco recalls Italo Calvino--theres the same pleasure in elegant riddles and rococo storytelling. Here and there the narrative of Ocean Sea vanishes down a dead end, and the authors weakness for typographical trickery doesnt help. Still, Bariccos novel remains a refreshing dunk in what Christina Stead called the ocean of story--and a brainy exploration of the littoral truth. --Bob Brandeis

Like a rich chocolate cake
Like a rich chocolate cake this book has to be enjoyed in little pieces to fully do it justice. One paragraph, one sentence, one image, at most a chapter at a time! It is so beautiful it literally leaves you breahtless. With just one word or sentence Baricco can create a whole scene, a whole world. It is one of those few books that I keep returning to regularly just to add beauty to my life. There are paragraphs and pages I must have read dozens of times. There is no other book I know that can offer such ethereal, completely honest truth and beauty. It is one of my most priced posessions, something I don't ever want to be without. Baricco to me is a literary genius. An artist like very few others. There is nothing about this book that I don't utterly love. My life is richer for having read the Ocean Sea. I only wish the Almayer Inn would exist in real life, I could use it sometimes :)

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Going Solo in the Kitchen by Jane Doerfer - Thanks!

2009-12-10T17:12:00.015-08:00

Just because you are your household, dont assume eating solo limits you to having pizza, pancakes, or meat loaf in restaurants; buying them already prepared; or having to file extra portions in the freezer or the dustbin. As Jane Doerfer proves in Going Solo in the Kitchen, with no more effort than when cooking for two or more, one person can eat well and dine beautifully.

Doerfers main strategies are to use fresh ingredients and to make friends with supermarket staff who can accommodate her needs in the land of large families. She gives detailed advice on storing foods--cooked chicken, for example, tastes better and has better texture when stored in liquid (like a sauce or broth), while potato salads and other prepared dishes keep better longer when left unsalted until just before serving.

Solo cooks do have advantages: you can eat what you want, as often as you want it, and the cost of a steak or lobster dinner is only for one.

Doerfer offers variations for recycling in case of leftovers. Her description of how to cut up a whole chicken is graphically clear (see Chicken Management) and will save you money.

The recipes and techniques Doerfer offers will brighten the lives of solitary diners who love variety, good food, and home cooking. She provides recipes for everything you might want, from Chicken Noodle Soup to elegant Halibut with Asparagus, Cream Scones, perfectly cooked rice, and fresh, hot berry pie, made in just the right way for one. --Dana Jacobi

Thanks!
Looking forward to trying the recipes in this book. Thanks for the timely shipment. Great doing business with you.

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The Fosters Market Cookbook: Favorite Recipes for Morning, Noon, and Night by Sarah Belk King - Mouthwatering scones, heart-to-heart talks

2009-12-10T17:12:00.014-08:00

Since 1990, Sara Foster has been delighting the patrons of her two North Carolina gourmet takeout food stores with refined yet unpretentious fare that reflects her Southern upbringing and years as a professional cook on the East Coast. The Fosters Market Cookbook, penned with food writer Sarah Belk King, collects dozens of Fosters most popular recipes, beloved for their use of high-quality seasonal ingredients and rich, imaginative flavor combinations. As with Ina Gartens Barefoot Contessa Cookbook and myriad tomes by Martha Stewart (for whom Foster worked in the 1980s), Fosters debut provides both advanced and fledgling home cooks with impeccably tasteful dinner-party menu ideas and creative weekday meals.

Starting the book as you might your morning, Foster offers tantalizing breakfast possibilities such as Sticky Orange-Coconut Pinwheels and traditional-with-a-twist brunch dishes such as Mushroom-Risotto Hash with Fried Eggs and Grilled Ham. Next come more than 15 soul-warming soups, stews, and chilies (Corn and Roasted Red Pepper Chowder is just one of many must-make entries); sandwiches and snacks; salads and sides; entrées; and desserts. Main-dish highlights include Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Prosciutto and Sun-Dried Tomatoes (theyre so good and so easy to make!), Grilled Eggplant Parmesan with Fresh Mozzarella and Zesty Tomato Sauce, and Pan-Seared Sea Scallops with Tom Thumb Tomatoes and Fosters Pesto (a perfect quick spring meal). The desserts are divine, including chic confections such as Four-Layer Blueberry Gingerbread Cake with Mocha Cream, a collaboration with Durham pastry chef Kathy Edwards, as well as old-fashioned treats like strawberry shortcake and pecan pie (nicely jazzed with bourbon). Throughout, sidebars and tips on techniques give cooks additional opportunity to learn from Fosters fine food sensibility. For connoisseurs of simple yet sophisticated cuisine, The Fosters Market Cookbook truly titillates. --Rebecca Robinson

Mouthwatering scones, heart-to-heart talks
I am not an objective reviewer of this cookbook, because sitting in Fosters Market nibbling scones and sipping coffee kept me sane for 5 years of graduate school at Duke. My closest friendships were cemented there. There are other treasures in the region - Bill Smiths Crooks Corner in Chapel Hill was another favorite (you can find their shrimp and grits recipe on-line, and find more recipes in Seasoned in the South: Recipes from Crooks Corner and from Home). I bought Sara Fosters book for the scone recipe, and sent the book to friends. Reading the book reminds me that good food shared with good friends can bring great happiness. Thank you, Sara!

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This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War (Vintage Civil War Library) by Drew Gilpin Faust - My husband is enjoying it!

2009-12-10T17:12:00.013-08:00

More than 600,000 soldiers lost their lives in the American Civil War. An equivalent proportion of todays population would be six million. In This Republic of Suffering, Drew Gilpin Faust reveals the ways that death on such a scale changed not only individual lives but the life of the nation, describing how the survivors managed on a practical level and how a deeply religious culture struggled to reconcile the unprecedented carnage with its belief in a benevolent God. Throughout, the voices of soldiers and their families, of statesmen, generals, preachers, poets, surgeons, nurses, northerners and southerners come together to give us a vivid understanding of the Civil Wars most fundamental and widely shared reality.

My husband is enjoying it!
Its in the library and the best info I have is that it is being read and enjoyed!

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Why They Kill: The Discoveries of a Maverick Criminologist by Richard Rhodes - This will fascinate you

2009-12-10T17:12:00.011-08:00

In Why They Kill, Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Rhodes traces the life and career of criminologist Lonnie Athens, a man who took his own sad and squalid life and turned it on its head to make a groundbreaking career as a criminologist. Athens grew up in a violent, angry world. Rather than absorbing the sickness and violence around him, though, he studied it, and eventually developed a theory about how violent criminals are created. Rhodess critical examination of Athenss work forces readers to consider how violent our society really is, how it became that way, and what might be done to change it. When applied to well-known criminals such as Michael Tyson and Lee Harvey Oswald, Athenss ideas become concrete and take on an urgent tone: its easy to discuss theories and predictors in the abstract, but these stories are real, and they repeat themselves in our society at an alarming rate. Rhodess approach to this disturbing subject stands apart from many other crime books in its intelligence, humanity, and empathy. These are not just descriptions of scumbags and their brutal crimes, but intensely personal stories that reveal how a culture of violence propagates itself. --Lisa Higgins

This will fascinate you
Rhodes follows the career of a maverick criminologist named Lonnie Athens, who developed a theory that can explain how persons develop the capacity to kill. Inspired by his own experiences as a child victim of domestic and neighborhood violence, and too small to successfully emulate the models of violence he has known, he goes to college and studies sociology and criminology, then begins interviewing prison inmates who have committed violent crimes including murder. He detects a pattern and develops a theory he calls violentization that identifies four stages in the development of the capacity to kill. The book then analyzes a number of well-known murderers using the theory. This was a hard book to put down.

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King of the World: Muhammed Ali and the Rise of an American Hero by David Remnick - The King

2009-12-10T17:12:00.009-08:00

Youd think there wouldnt be much left to say about a living icon like Muhammad Ali, yet David Remnick imbues King of the World with all the freshness and vitality this legendary fighter displayed in his prime. Beginning with the pre-Ali days of boxing and its two archetypes, Floyd Patterson (the good black heavyweight) and Sonny Liston (the bad black heavyweight), Remnick deftly sets the stage for the emergence of a heavyweight champion the likes of which the world had never seen: a three-dimensional, Technicolor showman, fighter and minister of Islam, a man who talked almost as well as he fought. But mostly Remnicks portrait is of a man who could not be confined to any existing stereotypes, inside the ring or out.

In extraordinary detail, Remnick depicts Ali as a creation of his own imagination as we follow the willful and mercurial young Cassius Clay from his boyhood and watch him hone and shape himself to a figure who would eventually command center stage in one of the most volatile decades in our history. To Remnick it seems clear that Alis greatest accomplishment is to prove beyond a doubt that not only is it possible to challenge the implacable forces of the establishment (the noir-ish, gangster-ridden fight game and the ethos of a whole country) but, with the right combination of conviction and talent, to triumph over these forces. --Fred Haefele

The King
Bertz / Randall

Almighty god was with me! I want everybody to bear witness! I am the greatest! I shook up the world! I am the greatest thing that ever lived! I dont have a mark on my face, and I just upset Sonny Liston, and I just turned twenty-two years old. I must be the greatest! I showed the world! I
talk to god every day! I am the king of the world! shouts Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) to the sporting press, after defeating Sonny Liston in 1964. This statement enraged boxing fans all over the world. Here was a twenty-two year old nobody with a big mouth, and he just defeated Sonny Liston. At the time, Liston was viewed as invincible. Liston was an experienced fighter who was known for defeating his opponents in two rounds or less. Not only did he lose the heavyweight championship to Ali, but he quit without being knocked down once. This declared Ali the king of controversy. King of the World by David Remnick is the story of the rise and fall of Muhammad Ali. Remnick does a fantastic job of showing us the different sides of racism. He focuses greatly on Alis devotion to the Nation of Islam. The book showed many similarities between the Nation of Islam and the Klu Klux Klan. Remnick explained that both the Nation and the Klan were for segregation and that they both use methods of violence and terror to enforce their beliefs. After reading this book, I realized that the similarities are uncanny. Remnicks numerous references to these similarities proved to me that Remnick is a non-violent integrationist. I believe that one of the main points of the book is that segregation is wrong. The book greatly describes how the Nation of Islam had interfered with Muhammad Alis personal life. For example, Remnick noted Alis marriage to Sonji. He went into great detail how strong Alis love was for Sonji, but he couldnt accept her inability to conform to his
religion. This became a problem for them and they eventually got a divorce. Remnick also noted the emotional distance between Ali and his father being caused by his decision to join the Nation of Islam. Remnick goes even further in describing the way Ali turned his back on his best friend Malcolm X. He also wanted to let the reader know that religion should never get in the way of your personal life. The book said that the only thing in Alis life that Ali regrets is his cruel and hasty rejection of Malcolm. Now days, Ali looks back at Malcolm X with great respect. The main point Remnick was trying to communicate with his audience was that Ali stood up for what he believed in. Not only in the boxing ring but, also with his religious and political beliefs. In 1966, Muhammad Ali refused to be drafted to fight the war in Vietnam. The government threatened to take away his heavyweight championship and throw him into a federal prison for the next five years. Ali still refused. When they asked him why he refused to fight in the Vietnam war, he replied I aint got no quarrel with them Viet Cong. Eldridge Cleaver described Ali as a genuine revolutionary and the first `free black champion to confront white America. Writer, Jill Nelson, called Alis refusal of the draft a supreme act of defiance. However, not everyone supported Alis refusal of the draft. Conservative boxing fans
called him an unpatriotic bum. They thought he was hiding behind his religion because he was lazy. Remnick took a much more liberal stance on the situation. The author seemed to support Alis decision. For many years, Muhammad Ali would be both loved and hated by boxing fans of all races. Some people believe that Ali should not have been allowed to be exempt from the war because of his religion. Others looked at his exemption as an amazing defeat. The only thing anyone could agree on was his amazing abilities in the ring. In 1997, during the summer Olympics, Muhammad Ali was invited to light the Olympic torch. In my opinion, this proved Ali to be a very patriotic man. It proved that the world had never forgotten about Ali, and it
never will. Lighting the Olympic torch is one of the highest honors any athlete could be given. King of the World was published in 1998. Exactly one year after he lit the Olympic torch. I think thats why this book was written when it was.
The ignition of the 1997 Olympic torch was Alis return to the public eye. And this book was written to honor him.

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The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs - Great read

2009-12-10T17:12:00.007-08:00

This book is an attack on current methods of city planning and re-building. It is also an explanation of new principles and an argument for different methods from those now in use. It is the first real alternative to conventional city planning that we have had in this century. Its author, herself a city dweller and an editor of Architectural Forum, is direct and practical in her approach. What, she asks, makes cities work? Why are some neighborhoods full of things to do and see and why are others dull? Why does the crime rate soar in our public housing developments and why are some of our older neighborhoods, despite their evident pov-erty, so much more safe, stable and congenial? Why do some neighborhoods attract interested and responsible populations and why do others degenerate? Why are Bostons North End and the eastern and western extremes of Greenwich Village good neighborhoods and why do orthodox city planners consider them slums? What alternatives are there to current city planning and rebuilding?

Conventional city planning holds that cities decline because they are blighted by too many people, by mixtures of commercial, industrial and residential uses, by old buildings and narrow streets and by small landholders who stand in the way of large-scale development. Such neighborhoods, they insist, breed apathy and crime, discourage investment and contaminate the areas around them. The response of con-ventional city planning is to tear them down, scatter their inhabitants, lay out super-blocks, and rebuild the area accord-ing to an integrated plan, with the result, as often as not, that the crime rate rises still higher, the new neighborhood is more lifeless than the old one, and the surrounding areas deteriorate even more, until the life of the whole city is threatened.

But Mrs. Jacobs observes that in any number of cases these very conditions--mixed uses, dense population, old buildings, small blocks, decentralized ownership--create the very opposite of slums, neighborhoods that regenerate themselves spontaneously, that are full of variety and diversity, that attract large numbers of casual visitors and responsible new residents, that encourage investment and revitalize the areas around them. Bostons North End (condemned as a slum by or-thodox planners) is such a neighborhood, and so is Greenwich Village. Rittenhouse Square and Telegraph Hill are others. Nearly every large city can produce still other examples.

Why then do some city neighborhoods die and why do others flourish? And what can city planners do to avoid the death and encourage the life of our great American cities? The solutions proposed by Mrs. Jacobs in this book represent a sharp break with conventional thinking on the subject and they carry with them the ring of simple truth which marks this book as an inevitable classic of social thought.

This edition is set from the first American edition of 1961 and commemorates the seventy-fifth anniversary of Random House.

Great read
I bought this book as a required reading for school. It was very easy to read and covered many interesting topics. I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in learning more about the urban environment.

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Peanuts: The Art of Charles M. Schulz by Charles M. Schulz - Good Grief

2009-12-10T17:12:00.005-08:00

This beautiful album will dazzle fans of Charles M. Schulz and his art, providing an unprecedented look at the work of the most brilliant and beloved cartoonist of the twentieth century. Here is the whole gang–Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, Peppermint Patty, Schroeder, Pig-Pen, and all the others from the original Peanuts strips.

More than five hundred comic strips are reproduced, as well as such rare or never-before-seen items as a sketchbook from Schulzs army days in the early 1940s; his very first printed strip, Just Keep Laughing; his private scrapbook of pre-Peanuts Lil Folks strips; developmental sketches for the first versions of Charlie Brown and the other Peanuts characters; a sketchbook from 1963; and many more materials gathered from the Schulz archives in Santa Rosa, California.

The art has been stunningly photographed by Geoff Spear in full color, capturing the subtle textures of paper, ink, and line. The strips–which were shot only from the original art or vintage newsprint–reveal how, from the 1950s through 2000, Schulzs style and the Peanuts world evolved. The book features an introduction by Jean Schulz and has been designed and edited by renowned graphic artist Chip Kidd, who also provides an informed and appreciative commentary.

This celebration of the genius of the most revered cartoonist of our time is a must for anyone who has ever come under the spell of Peanuts.

Good Grief
I great book, over looking Schulz's body of work, as well as bits about his life and quotes from the man himself. Kidd's design is the perfect showcase for the art. This is a book you never really finish reading, cause you always come back to it again and again.

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The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles - Exceptionally Multi-Dimensional View of the Man and His Times

2009-12-10T17:12:00.003-08:00

Book Description A gripping, groundbreaking biography of the combative man whose genius and force of will created modern capitalism.

Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius "Commodore" Vanderbilt is an American icon. Humbly born on Staten Island during George Washington's presidency, he rose from boatman to builder of the nation's largest fleet of steamships to lord of a railroad empire. Lincoln consulted him on steamship strategy during the Civil War; Jay Gould was first his uneasy ally and then sworn enemy; and Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president of the United States, was his spiritual counselor. We see Vanderbilt help to launch the transportation revolution, propel the Gold Rush, reshape Manhattan, and invent the modern corporation—in fact, as T. J. Stiles elegantly argues, Vanderbilt did more than perhaps any other individual to create the economic world we live in today.

In The First Tycoon, Stiles offers the first complete, authoritative biography of this titan, and the first comprehensive account of the Commodore's personal life. It is a sweeping, fast-moving epic, and a complex portrait of the great man. Vanderbilt, Stiles shows, embraced the philosophy of the Jacksonian Democrats and withstood attacks by his conservative enemies for being too competitive. He was a visionary who pioneered business models. He was an unschooled fistfighter who came to command the respect of New York's social elite. And he was a father who struggled with a gambling-addicted son, a husband who was loving yet abusive, and, finally, an old man who was obsessed with contacting the dead.

The First Tycoon is the exhilarating story of a man and a nation maturing together: the powerful account of a man whose life was as epic and complex as American history itself.

Excerpts from an Interview with T.J. Stiles Question: Your last book was a biography of Jesse James. What drew you to Cornelius Vanderbilt as your next subject?

T.J. Stiles: I was drawn by who he was as a person, the lack of writing about him, and the historical themes that defined his life.

Like Jesse James, Vanderbilt was man of action--decisive, dramatic, and always interesting. He courted physical danger, fought high-stakes financial battles, and always set the terms of his existence. Like Jesse James, Vanderbilt has not been the subject of much serious research. And like Jesse James, Vanderbilt opened a window on the making of modern America. Vanderbilt was central to the rise of the corporation, the emergence of Wall Street, and the birth of big business. His was a dramatic life played out on an enormous stage.

Q:How long have you been working on this book and what kind of research went into it?

TJS: I worked on it for more than six years. My research was challenging because Vanderbilt kept no diary, preserved no letters, and left behind no collection of papers. Second, the last serious biography about him was written in 1942. The increasing digitization of newspapers and Congressional documents helped, but I did most of my work the old-fashioned way, digging through archives and sitting in front of microfilm readers. My biggest discovery came when I stumbled upon the Old Records Division of the New York County Clerk's Office; I spent months there going through original lawsuit papers from as early as 1816. I uncovered entire episodes of Vanderbilt's life that no one ever suspected--fistfights, steamboats ramming each other, inside trading and noncompetition agreements, details about his physical office and epic tales of betrayal. I also focused on Vanderbilt's associates and rivals, and found priceless letters about him in their papers. Of course, I spent months more going through the papers of his various railroad corporations at the New York Public Library. I found so much new material that I decided to include a lengthy bibliographical essay.

Q:Throughout the book, you highlight Vanderbilts role in the making of the modern idea of economic regulation. You also write, The Commodore's life left its mark on Americans' most basic beliefs about equality and opportunity. Where in our modern institutions do you think his legacy is most apparent?

TJS: Vanderbilt early on voiced a political philosophy rooted in radical Jacksonianism. He believed in individual equality, in the right to compete freely. He denounced monopolies and corporations. This strain of thought remains a key part of American values. Yet he ended his life at the pinnacle of an incredibly unequal society, the master of a giant corporation that overshadowed almost every other business in America. That late-life transformation strongly influenced the new acceptance of government regulation that arose after the Civil War. I don't think so much that Vanderbilt's legacy can be seen in our institutions as much as our economic culture--the rise of the modern idea that government should intervene to regulate large businesses, and redress the balance of wealth and power in society.

Q: What do you think Vanderbilt would have to say about our current economic climate; its root causes as well as the ever increasing bail-outs of giant corporations?

TJS: When the Panic of 1873 hit, Vanderbilt gave an immediate analysis to a newspaper reporter that virtually describes the current situation. The problem was asset inflation: a speculative bubble (in his case, railroads, in our case, real estate) that tamped down skepticism about the value of securities issued by overvalued companies (or, in our case, mortgage-backed securities based on shaky home loans). Eager to ride the rising wave, banks in New York marketed the securities abroad, giving a stamp of approval, much as they have done with mortgage-backed securities today. In other words, Vanderbilt would have understood the root causes of our crisis, despite the great differences in the economy between then and now. And, though he usually looked askance at government intervention, the seriousness of the situation might have led him to approve of strong action. It's hard to say, because he denounced subsidies, yet after the Panic of 1873 he also urged the federal government to pump new money into the economy. In any case, he would have had a sophisticated grasp of our conundrum.

Q:Your own family history recently made national news when it was discovered, at The Smithsonian in Washington, DC, that one of President Lincolns watches contained a secret inscription from your great-great grandfather. That must have been pretty exciting for you, not only as a family member but as a historian who has written extensively about the Civil War. How do you feel about this news and what do you make of all the attention it received?

TJS:The news accounts floored me. I never expected this favorite family story, one I never quite believed, to enter national mythology. My great-great-grandfather, Jonathan Dillon, was an Irish immigrant who was working in a Washington, D.C., watch repair shop when Fort Sumter was fired on. He happened to be holding Lincolns watch in his hand. He made an inscription on the back of the dial, closed it up, and said nothing to Lincoln about it. My second cousin, Douglas Stiles, tracked the watch to the Smithsonians Museum of American History, and convinced the director to open the watch up and check. The message was there--a little different from my great-great-grandfathers memory, but it was there.

I think it struck a chord with the nation at the momen

Exceptionally Multi-Dimensional View of the Man and His Times
For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away safely? -- 1 Samuel 24:19

Cornelius Vanderbilt was driven by a desire to best his commercial rivals while realizing that he might in the future need to ally with them. As a result, he was a tough competitor while being careful to develop a reputation as someone who was trustworthy. Youll learn the consequences of this compulsion in The First Tycoon. And Im sure many will pick up this book wanting to pick up tips on how to accumulate a great fortune.

If you are like me, youll find many pleasant surprises in this book as many unexpected perspectives and dimensions emerge. This book could just easily serve as a primer on continuing business model innovation, an expertise that Vanderbilt seems to have had to an extraordinary degree. In addition, the book is a marvelous look into the dynamics of unregulated markets with relatively few competitors and how quickly monopolies and cozy oligopolies emerge that fleece the public. Further, the work does great justice to explaining how to gain cost and competitive advantages in transportation businesses (reduce the price, the hassle, and the costs). Beyond that, The First Tycoon is a definite primer on how to outmaneuver competitors in business and on the stock market. Youll also learn how to rig an unregulated stock market or to corner the market. Those who are interested in leadership will see many good models of how to go from doing to leading.

If thats not enough, youll also learn about how a great success in business wasnt such a good father . . . and how he coped with the failings of his youngsters.

Those who like social history will find that the book is filled with much good information about the times and what it was like to live then. Youll never look at certain parts of New York and New England in the same way after reading about their origins.

Some may complain that they wanted more of a particular aspect of the story. Those who wanted just a biography, an ever deeper look into the man, may be somewhat disappointed. Much of the book doesnt get below the surface of Vanderbilts psyche. But perhaps there wasnt very much to reveal about someone whom others had reason to avoid annoying.

I thought this book was so revealing that I spent a lot of time studying it, the first time I can say that about any book in recent years. I learned a lot and you will, too!

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Julias Kitchen Wisdom: Essential Techniques and Recipes from a Lifetime of Cooking by Julia Child - The greatest ever, and her culinary last will and testament

2009-12-10T17:12:00.001-08:00

Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen: A Novel by Susan Gregg Gilmore - Courtesy of Teens Read Too

2009-12-09T16:08:00.020-08:00

Sometimes you have to return to the place where you began, to arrive at the place where you belong.

It's the early 1970s. The town of Ringgold, Georgia, has a population of 1,923, one traffic light, one Dairy Queen, and one Catherine Grace Cline. The daughter of Ringgold's third-generation Baptist preacher, Catherine Grace is quick-witted, more than a little stubborn, and dying to escape her small-town life.

Every Saturday afternoon, she sits at the Dairy Queen, eating Dilly Bars and plotting her getaway to the big city of Atlanta. And when, with the help of a family friend, the dream becomes a reality, Catherine Grace immediately packs her bags, leaving her family and the boy she loves to claim the life she's always imagined. But before things have even begun to get off the ground in Atlanta, tragedy brings her back home. As a series of extraordinary events alters her perspective–and sweeping changes come to Ringgold itself–Catherine Grace begins to wonder if her place in the world may actually be, against all odds, right where she began.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too
Its the 1970s, and Catherine Grace Cline is stuck in the one place she knows she doesnt belong - her hometown of Ringgold, Georgia. Its a town that just doesnt fit her. Its too small and too quiet. She spends every Saturday eating Dilly Bars at the Dairy Queen and plotting her escape.

Catherine Grace is the daughter of a third-generation Baptist minister. Her father leads his flock through the joys and sorrows of their lives, the same way he has led his family through their own troubled times. Catherine Grace is also the daughter of Lena Mae Pierce, and has been haunted by the death of her mother. How could her mother have drowned in the creek and left Catherine Grace and her sister? Why would God let that happen?

The only exciting person Catherine Grace knows is Gloria Jean, who lives next door. Gloria Jean has her hair, nails, and make-up done like no other woman in town. She dresses well and has the sophisticated air of a woman whos been married five times, and isnt ashamed to admit it.

Catherine Grace soon finds that she has the chance to change her world. The chance she has dreamed of. She says goodbye to her family, friends, and her boyfriend and moves to Atlanta, where she lives the life she knew she was destined for.

But it isnt long before tragedy strikes and Catherine returns home again to find that nothing is as she thought. A series of revelations leads Catherine Grace to wonder if Ringgold was the place where she really belonged all along, or is she throwing away her dreams like so many other people in her life have done?

LOOKING FOR SALVATION AT THE DAIRY QUEEN is a very endearing story. Susan Gregg Gilmore writes in a way that immediately brings Catherine Grace to life and gives her a clear, unique voice. The story is surprising and suspenseful; it keeps you turning the pages until you get to the satisfying end.

Reviewed by: JodiG.

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My Life in France (Movie Tie-In Edition) (Random House Movie Tie-In Books) by Alex PrudHomme - Inspirational!

2009-12-09T16:08:00.019-08:00

Book Description

Julia Child single handedly awakened America to the pleasures of good cooking with her cookbook Mastering the Art of French Cooking and her television show The French Chef, but as she reveals in this bestselling memoir, she didnt know the first thing about cooking when she landed in France.

Indeed, when she first arrived in 1948 with her husband, Paul, she spoke no French and knew nothing about the country itself. But as she dove into French culture, buying food at local markets and taking classes at the Cordon Bleu, her life changed forever. Julias unforgettable story unfolds with the spirit so key to her success as a cook and teacher and writer, brilliantly capturing one of the most endearing American personalities of the last fifty years.

Julie & Julia is now a major motion picture (releasing in August 2009) starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child. It is partially based on her memoir, My Life in France. Enjoy these images from the film, and click the thumbnails to see larger images.

Inspirational!
My Life in France is an exhilarating memoir. Accompanying her husband on his assignment to Paris, Julia Child becomes enamored with French food. The book shows how her new-found passion led the former OSS file clerk to become a renown chef and cookbook author. Along the way, readers meet the family and friends who assisted - and sometimes challenged - her. And we discover her husband Paul, the love of her life and the man behind the scenes.

In many ways, My Life in France is a real-life love story between Julia and Paul and their various artistic talents. It is also a good accompaniment to Malcolm Gladwells Outliers: The Story of Success, because Julias story is one of being in the right place at the right time with the right people and working very, very hard.

I loved My Life in France! Alex Prudhomme does an excellent job of making readers feel like they are traveling along on Julias journey. It is a delightful trip and one I encourage you to take.

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Mehndi : The Timeless Art of Henna Painting by Loretta Roome - Wonderful and Useful book

2009-12-09T16:08:00.017-08:00

Mehndi, the ancient art of painting on the skin with henna, beautifies the body, rejuvenates the spirit, and celebrates the joys of creativity and self-expression. More than just a temporary tattoo, mehndi offers us a way to participate in a centuries-old tradition still practiced in India, Africa, and the Middle East.

In this stunning and authoritative book, Loretta Roome traces the origins and meanings of traditional designs, demonstrates how to create them on the skin, and reveals the recipes, tools, and techniques needed to paint designs that range from simple to complex. The result of years of research and the authors experience as one of the nations foremost mehndi artists, Roomes book offers practical information, creative inspiration, and many suggestions for enhancing the playful, intimate, sensual, erotic, and spiritual aspects of the ancient and amazing art of mehndi.

Wonderful and Useful book
I love this book. If you want to get a really clear understanding of Mehndi/henna, then get this book. It is full of background and useful techniques, and has some designs with meanings. It isn't the best if you are just looking for a book of examples though. It's more of an explanation and how to prepare the henna in the best ways.

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Zondervan NIV Study Bible, Personal Size - Bible order

2009-12-09T16:08:00.015-08:00

#1 Best-selling study Bible in the best-selling NIV translation

Study features fully revised and updated. Over 20,000 in-text study notes. A library of study resources at your fingertips.

Bible order
My order of Zondervan NIV Study Bibles was reasonably priced, arrived on time and in excellent condition. They are being used by an inmate Bible Study at a medium security state prison in Marion Ohio.

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Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl: Living the Faith after Bible Class Is Over by Lysa TerKeurst - This one hits home!

2009-12-09T16:08:00.013-08:00

Are you tired of just going through the motions of the Christian life? Do you feel a tug at your heart to live completely for God—but don't know what the next step is? Lysa TerKeurst invites you to uncover the spiritually exciting life you long for. Fulfillment is closer than you ever thought possible.

This one hits home!
Like so many of us, I have read numbers of Bible studies and books about how to DO Bible study. Lysa's book stands above- it is filled with evidence of a REAL LIVE woman, filled with human emotions, times of blessing, moments of failure and valleys of insecurities- just like me (and every other REAL LIVE woman I've met!) Lysa's style of grace and humor comes off the page and right into your heart, leading you straight to our Lord with every example.

If you are looking for a guide to bring every piece of your life out into the Light, with the acceptance and love of a woman who has been there, then this is the book you've been waiting for!

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True Light (Restoration Series #3) by Terri Blackstock - Terri Blackstock True Light

2009-12-09T16:08:00.011-08:00

As Oak Hollow grapples with a global power blackout, a teenager is shot in a food robbery. Jailed as the suspect, young Mark Green must prove his innocence to a community that has already judged him in its heart. But the Branning family stands with him as he fights to survive—and forgive. Book three in Terri Blackstock's Restoration series.

Terri Blackstock True Light
As evidenced in the first two novels of the Restoration Series, Blackstock continues her 'grab you' style of writing. I couldn't wait to get to the last novel of this series! Now I am already in my third book of her 'Second Chances' series, and enjoying every bit of it. She completes one life story and continues with another familiar character in the next books. You will delight in her works!

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Night Light (Restoration Series #2) by Terri Blackstock - Good book

2009-12-09T16:08:00.009-08:00

As the power outage continues, the Brannings struggle to bring their neighborhood together into a functioning community where everyone helps each other make their homes ready for winter, and fight the crime that is running rampant among them. Book Two in the Restoration series.

Good book
I am a fan of Terri Blackstock as an author, and this book is about the tweleth I have read. It is a good read, hard to put down. I would definately recommend reading book one of this series before reading this (book 2). But you won't be disappointed in the book.

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Loving God by Charles W. Colson - Inspirational

2009-12-09T16:08:00.007-08:00

Chuck Colsons Classic offers a penetrating and challenging look at the cost and joy of being a Christian.

Inspirational
When I first picked up this book, I was a bit erred by the sunflower on the cover and wondered what this book might want to tell me. But now after having finished the last pages, I can see why Colson chose to title this work simply "Loving God." In these pages live very simple stories of simple people like ourselves who chose to love God as strongly as they could, and in so doing they found that loving others was the key to understanding God's love.

Personally, I went through this book just one chapter a day, and at the end of each day felt so much more inspired to go into action instead of sitting idly by. This is a true self-help book for the serious Christian or for someone just curious as to what serving God really means. So help yourself by getting inspired (hopefully, as I have) to at least look at the people around you and want to show them how God loves, not to find new converts or to make money together, but just to care for those you meet. I even think someone just looking into the Christian faith or just curious about what real Christians look like could benefit from taking a read. (I say, avoid any book with the author's face firmly on the cover. They are not there to exemplify true servant leadership!) Good luck.

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The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Vintage) by Stieg Larsson - fascinating deep mystery and family saga

2009-12-09T16:08:00.005-08:00

Amazon Best of the Month, September 2008: Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, theres no turning back. This debut thriller--the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson--is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connelly. Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch--and theres always a catch--is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades. With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larssons novel, but there is at least one constant: you really dont want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. --Dave Callanan

fascinating deep mystery and family saga
I had never heard of Larsson and I am glad i found this mystery! its an excellemt detective story and a family saga in one

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Yum-o! The Family Cookbook by Rachael Ray - Awesome!

2009-12-09T16:08:00.003-08:00

No one has helped more families find time to fit home-cooked meals into their daily routines than Rachael Ray. Now with the help of Yum-o!, the organization she founded to help kids and adults develop a healthier relationship to food and cooking, she has put together the ultimate family cookbook, which includes recipes that both kids and their parents will love cooking–and eating–together!

Rachael knows that every family wants to make the best possible food choices–and get the very most out of their food-budget dollars. The recipes here feature more whole grains, use less fat, and make the most of fresh fruits and vegetables so they are as good for you as they are delish, and they're all quintessential Rachael–fun and creative.

You'll also find notes on how to get even very young kids involved in the cooking process; great ideas for everything from breakfast to the lunchbox to dinner; wholesome snacks; and loads of new double-duty dinners that let you cook once, then eat twice or more.

With lots of full-color photos and tons of helpful tips for making mealtime the very best part of the day, Yum-o! is a must-have for every busy family.

Awesome!
This book is a good one for the family to get together with. The kids can help and mom or dad can take a step back. The recipes have a twist on the traditional kid food. Hot dogs just taste better when you use the recipe from this book.

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The First Billion Is the Hardest: Reflections on a Life of Comebacks and Americas Energy Future by T. Boone Pickens - GB Texan

2009-12-09T16:08:00.001-08:00

It's Never Too Late to Top Your Personal Best.

Both a riveting account of a life spent pulling off improbable triumphs and a report back from the front of the global-energy and natural-resource wars, The First Billion Is the Hardest tells the story of the remarkable late-life comeback that brought the famed oilman and maverick back from bankruptcy and clinical depression. Along the way, the man often called the "Oracle of Oil" shares the insights that have made him a legend–and describes the billion-dollar bets he is now making in hopes of securing America's energy independence.

"Sassy...breezes along...salted with earthy aphorisms."—Bloomberg.com

"Boone's analysis of America's energy situation is 100 percent on the money....The country should listen to him–now!" —Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO, Berkshire Hathaway

"Self-deprecating and audacious...overall, it's decidedly informative about the machinations of business." –Dallas Morning News

"A fascinating, eye-opening book by one of America's greatest iconoclasts and entrepreneurs. Boone Pickens' sense of daring and innovation has never been sharper."–Steve Forbes, president and CEO, Forbes Inc., and editor in chief of Forbes magazine

GB Texan
Boone Pickens has done a lot for Texas and the nation. This is just one chapter of a great billionaire that is for a GREEN Earth.

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Nefertiti: A Novel by Michelle Moran - Most enjoyable historical fiction

2009-12-09T16:07:00.008-08:00

A National Bestseller!

"Meticulously researched and richly detailed . . . an engrossing tribute to one of the most powerful and alluring women in history."
–Boston Globe

Nefertiti and her younger sister, Mutnodjmet, have been raised in a powerful family that has provided wives to the rulers of Egypt for centuries. Ambitious, charismatic, and beautiful, Nefertiti is destined to marry Amunhotep, an unstable young pharaoh. It is hoped that her strong personality will temper the young ruler's heretical desire to forsake Egypt's ancient gods.

From the moment of her arrival in Thebes, Nefertiti is beloved by the people but fails to see that powerful priests are plotting against her husband's rule. The only person brave enough to warn the queen is her younger sister, yet remaining loyal to Nefertiti will force Mutnodjmet into a dangerous political game; one that could cost her everything she holds dear.

Most enjoyable historical fiction
NEFERTITI was a most enjoyable read. Each page called me to turn to the next one and the one after that, until the last.

I happened to read the novel a few days after I saw Nefertitits bust in the museum in Berlin, which made it truly special!

Eva Etzioni-Halevy
[...]

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Last Night I Dreamed of Peace: The Diary of Dang Thuy Tram by Dang Thuy Tram - Excellent book for those interested in VN war history

2009-12-09T16:07:00.007-08:00

"Remarkable. . . . A gift from a heroine who was killed at twenty-seven but whose voice has survived to remind us of the humanity and decency that endure amid—and despite—the horror and chaos of war."
—Francine Prose, O, The Oprah Magazine

Brutally honest and rich in detail, this posthumously published diary of a twenty-seven-year-old Vietcong woman doctor, saved from destruction by an American soldier, gives us fresh insight into the lives of those fighting on the other side of the Vietnam War. It is a story of the struggle for one's ideals amid the despair and grief of war, but most of all, it is a story of hope in the most dire circumstances.

"As much a drama of feelings as a drama of war."
—Seth Mydans, New York Times

"A book to be read by and included in any course on the literature of the war. . . . A major contribution."
—Chicago Tribune

"An illuminating picture of what life was like among the enemy guerrillas, especially in the medical community."
—The VVA Veteran, official publication of Vietnam Veterans of America

Excellent book for those interested in VN war history
The writing style is sometimes hard to follow and the author was obviously not trying to make an accurate day by day account of the war. It was more a personal project of hers, just to record her thoughts and feelings. I found it very touching and enlightening, to be able to have the thoughts of one from the "other side". It really humanizes the people who suffered in the war, those in Vietnam who were caught in a situation they could not escape.

Having traveled in Vietnam recently, with ordinary people from all walks of life there, some who fought for the Hanoi government, you begin to realize what a tragedy the entire conflict was. Not only for the 54,000 Americans killed, but for the soldiers from both sides, all 3 sides really, in Vietnam who just wanted a peaceful and normal life.

A lack of cultural understanding, and fear of a people we had no reason to fear was the root cause of the conflict. Books such as this will help bridge that gap, and bring about a more peaceful and tolerant world. Dang Thuy Tram, in my mind, did not die in vain. We owe it to her to read her thoughts..

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Momfidence!: An Oreo Never Killed Anybody and Other Secrets of Happier Parenting by Paula Spencer - Really great book!

2009-12-09T16:07:00.006-08:00

Lose the Guilt, Love Your Instincts

If the latest "breakthrough" child-development theory, parenting technique, or child-appropriate diet makes you worry or groan (or just want to lie down for a nap), it's time to make way for Momfidence! Paula Spencer, parenting expert and mother of four, provides refreshing, down-to-earth proof that most of the business of raising confident, healthy children involves nothing more complicated that trusting your instincts, using common sense, and above all, hanging on to your humor.

Momfidence! is:

•Using "perfect" only to describe such wonders as a ripe peach, a cloudless day at the beach, or a husband who does diapers and dinner. . . It has no application whatsoever in describing motherhood.

•Recognizing that there are appropriate times and places for lying, yelling, threatening, bribing, and saying "I told you so"

•Sending yourself to time-out—preferably with chocolate and/or your spouse

•Being completely amnesiac about the day's exasperating transgressions when you peek in your children's bedrooms at night and watch them sleep

Based on her popular Woman's Day and Parenting columns, Momfidence! explains how obsessing less and winging it more can keep you sane—and your kids healthy and happy. It's a hilarious look at "perfect motherhood" that cuts parents a long-overdue break by reminding us that we're not the amateurs here—we're all experts, too.

Really great book!
I have several of the books listed above as "Customers who bought this book also bought..." and so far, as I make my way through the stack, I have found Paula's book to be the best. Funny, realistic, with just enough self-deprecating humor to make you really want to be her friend. And I say this because the sad thing is that of all the moms I know, I couldn't recommend this to any of them because no one ever admits to having these feelings of inadequacy. Another more academic but also thoughtful look at this topic is a book called "The Mask of Motherhood". I am so glad that Paula Spencer took the time to write about this, since we so rarely talk about it.

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The Heretic Queen: A Novel by Michelle Moran - Wonderful and Entertaining Reading

2009-12-09T16:07:00.005-08:00

In ancient Egypt, a forgotten princess must overcome her family's past and remake history.

The winds of change are blowing through Thebes. A devastating palace fire has killed the Eighteenth Dynasty's royal family—all with the exception of Nefertari, the niece of the reviled former queen, Nefertiti. The girl's deceased family has been branded as heretical, and no one in Egypt will speak their names. A relic of a previous reign, Nefertari is pushed aside, an unimportant princess left to run wild in the palace. But this changes when she is taken under the wing of the Pharaoh's aunt, then brought to the Temple of Hathor, where she is educated in a manner befitting a future queen.

Soon Nefertari catches the eye of the Crown Prince, and despite her family's history, they fall in love and wish to marry. Yet all of Egypt opposes this union between the rising star of a new dynasty and the fading star of an old, heretical one. While political adversity sets the country on edge, Nefertari becomes the wife of Ramesses the Great. Destined to be the most powerful Pharaoh in Egypt, he is also the man who must confront the most famous exodus in history.

Sweeping in scope and meticulous in detail, The Heretic Queen is a novel of passion and power, heartbreak and redemption.

Wonderful and Entertaining Reading
I have read both Nefertiti and The Heritic Queen (Nefertari) and I found it difficult to put the books down. They were very informative in a very romantic way and I now know that Mr. Cecil B. DeMilles version of The Ten Commandments was inaccurate (even if it was a wonderful movie). Rameses loved Nefertari very much; so much he had inscribed over her special temple at Abu Simbel For She Whom The Sun Shines. That love was returned to him by Nefertari. She loved no other.
Nefertiti was a very strong Queen, and after reading her story, I know she loved Akhenaten very much. He was the only Egyptian monarch to believe in monotheism (even if she wasnt quite sure). For an Egyptian it was very revolutionary, but she supported him in whatever decisions he made. You cant help but wonder who put that idea of the Aten in his head. He loved his family very much and it is a shame that Egypt tried to erase all knowledge of him and his Queen. I enjoyed both books immensely. I pass these books on to my children so they can appreciate the truth in history.

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El amor en los tiempos del cólera (Oprah #59) (Spanish Edition) by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - The Latin American Balzac

2009-12-09T16:07:00.004-08:00

De jóvenes, Florentino Ariza y Fermina Daza se enamoran apasionadamente, pero Fermina eventualmente decide casarse con un médico rico y de muy buena familia. Florentino está anonadado, pero es un romántico. Su carrera en los negocios florece, y aunque sostiene 622 pequeños romances, su corazón todavía pertenece a Fermina. Cuando al fin el esposo de ella muere, Florentino acude al funeral con toda intención. A los cincuenta años, nueve meses y cuatro días de haberle profesado amor a Fermina, lo hará una vez más.

The Latin American Balzac
I have enjoyed the book immensely. He describes everything in such detail that one feels totally imnmersed in the plot. No wonder Garcia Marquez, like Hemingway, earned a Nobel Prize in Literature.
Highly recommended.

Andrew J. Rodriguez
Award-winning author: Adios, Havana, a Memoir

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Cuentos Chinos (Spanish Edition) by Andres Oppenheimer - Interesante

2009-12-09T16:07:00.003-08:00

Con su habitual lucidez, Oppenheimer analiza la realidad actual y de los próximos años en América Latina, a la luz del ejemplo de los llamados países emergentes de los últimos años: China, Irlanda, Polonia, República Checa, entre otros. El autor busca descubrir quién presenta un panorama realista de los próximos veinte años y quién está contando "cuentos chinos". Por un lado, los informes de la CNI (centro de estudios de la CIA a largo plazo) y de un alemán del Parlamento Europeo experto en A. Latina (Linkohr) que pintan un panorama desolador para la región; por el otro, los discursos optimistas de los gobernantes de estos países (Chávez, Fox, Kirchner) y de instituciones como la CEPAL. Para ello, recorre los países emergentes durante tres años y entrevista a los actores más relevantes del futuro latinoamericano (desde Rumsfeld y Roger Noriega hasta Evo Morales pasando por Fernando Henrique Cardoso y los presidentes de México, Argentina, Perú, Colombia, Venezuela y Chile, además de gente común, como ascensoristas chinos o taxistas polacos). Sus conclusiones son reveladoras, ya que si bien los informes antes mencionados resultan acertados como diagnósticos del presente, el autor se muestra asombrado por la rapidez con que ciertos países de características previas muy similares a las nuestras pudieron pasar de la pobreza y la desesperanza a la riqueza y el dinamismo. Es, definitivamente, un libro para desactivar prejuicios.

Interesante
Un libro que nos puede ilustrar como salir del subdesarrollo, que en el caso nuestro es más mental que cualquier otra cosa. Ilustra de manera real y amena el avance de China, sin olvidar que todavía es dominada por un partido único donde las libertades civiles están restringidas, además de los casos europeos de progreso República Checa, Polonia y el más interesante Irlanda. Las dos primeros ex repúblicas soviéticas, la última un país empobrecido hasta hace 15 años.

La apatía del gobierno de Bush hacia latinoamérica, el estancamiento de México, el caso sui generis de la Argentina y un capítulo entero dedicado al payaso principal: Chávez, sin excluir las culpas que cargan los anteriores gobiernos socialdemócratas venezolanos. Además del avance de Brasil a pesar de ser gobernado por un izquierdista como Lula.

Todos los casos exitosos son de países abiertos a la inversión extranjera, empeñados en hacerse lugares atractivos para abrir negocios, para establecer oficinas regionales, generando trabajo y por lo tanto aumentando la calidad de vida de las personas y disminuyendo la pobreza, así el ideal de igualdad patrimonial no se alcance nunca. Mientras tanto nosotros los ecuatorianos seguimos confiando en un vendedor de milagros que esta espantando la inversión nacional y extranjera y sigue pensando en la "equidad", al parecer al ser todos pobres somos mas "equitativos".

También trata del tema educativo; es básico para el desarrollo de un país, pero como crear una educación de calidad si ni siquiera las personas pueden satisfacer necesidades más básicas como salud, alimentación, vivienda y vestido. Si tan solo se dedicará mas dinero a la educación y no ha enriquecer a un ejercito de burócratas. Oppenheimer en su libro indica que en América Latina sobran los abogados pero nos faltan ingenieros. Que verdad tan grande por eso es que no florecen fácilmente empresas de alta tecnología en la región que podrían ayudarnos a salir de pobres.

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The Joy of Living: Unlocking the Secret and Science of Happiness by Eric Swanson - perfect

2009-12-09T16:07:00.001-08:00

An illuminating perspective on the science of meditation—and a handbook for transforming our minds, bodies, and lives

In The Joy of Living, world-renowned Buddhist teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche—the "happiest man in the world"—invites us to join him in unlocking the secrets to finding joy and contentment in the everyday. Using the basic meditation practices he provides, we can discover paths through our problems, transforming obstacles into opportunities to recognize the unlimited potential of our own minds.

perfect
I was very pleased with the product, came quickly and was in great condition. thank you. you get 5 stars. karen woodhouse

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Miss Fannies Hat (Picture Puffins) by Jan Karon - Hats and More Hats.

2009-12-08T18:32:00.011-08:00

Miss Fannie has lots of hats. And each one is her favorite. At age 99, Miss Fannie has much history--and even more hats. She was wearing her green velour hat when she witnessed a terrible flood in 1916. Her wide-brimmed felt hat with the gleaming black feather reminds her of the hawk she caught to keep it from killing her hens and biddies. But her pink straw hat with silk roses truly is her favorite. For 35 years shes worn this hat to church every Easter Sunday, and it always makes her feel brand-new, like Easter itself. Shes not the only one who thinks its special. When her handsome young preacher asks her to donate a hat to the church auction, Miss Fannie knows what she has to do. She takes a deep breath, thinks of her favorite verse from the Bible, With God, all things are possible, and wraps up her pink straw hat. But she doesnt realize just how much is possible until the Easter Sunday after the auction.

Jan Kuron, popular author of the bestselling series for adults, The Mitford Years, as well as the childrens book, Jeremy: The Tale of an Honest Bunny, crafts a pleasing story of a charming woman (based on Kurons own grandmother) who reaps the sweet rewards of her generosity. Toni Goffes warm, cartoonish illustrations will make readers smile. (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter

Hats and More Hats.
First copy of this book I bought for the church library. Second copy I am buying is for my four year old granddaughter because I always wear a hat.

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Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans - An Inspiration!

2009-12-08T18:32:00.009-08:00

No child could resist this adorable, 9-inch-tall, rag-doll-soft Madeline--complete with appendix-removal scar! This Parisian schoolgirl sports a jaunty felt hat with a trailing black ribbon, perfect for the mischievous redhead who is not afraid of mice and pooh-poohs the tiger at the zoo. Her blue sailor dress is removable for frequent scar viewing! Each doll comes in a big, splashy gift box (12 inches by 12 inches by 4 inches) with one unabridged paperback edition of Ludwig Bemelmanss original Madeline (and thats all there is--there isnt any more). (Ages 3 and older)

An Inspiration!
This book is a true classic. It makes me wish that I could visit Paris THIS April!!

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The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: An Appalachian Story by Gloria Houston - The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: An Appalachian Story

2009-12-08T18:32:00.007-08:00

Acclaimed author Gloria Houston has written a tale that is as joyful and timeless as Christmas itself. Jewel-like paintings by two-time Caldecott Medal winner Barbara Cooney capture all of the seasons warmth and mountain flavor. A heartwarming holiday story, simply told and graced with true sentiment rather than sentimentality.--Kirkus Reviews. Publishers Weekly Bestseller. Booklist Best Books of the Decade. Full color.

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree: An Appalachian Story
This was purchased for my nephew and he loved it. Since he lives in the moutains, it was a story he related too. He liked it so much, I ordered another one for a gift and it was also well received.

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Meditations (Penguin Classics) by Marcus Aurelius - Rakkasan!

2009-12-08T18:32:00.005-08:00

One measure, perhaps, of a books worth, is its intergenerational pliancy: do new readers acquire it and interpret it afresh down through the ages? The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, translated and introduced by Gregory Hays, by that standard, is very worthwhile, indeed. Hays suggests that its most recent incarnation--as a self-help book--is not only valid, but may be close to the authors intent. The book, which Hays calls, fondly, a haphazard set of notes, is indicative of the role of philosophy among the ancients in that it is expected to provide a design for living. And it does, both aphoristically (Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take whats left and live it properly.) and rhetorically (What is it in ourselves that we should prize?). Whether these, and other entries (Enough of this wretched, whining monkey life.) sound life-changing or like entries in a teenagers diary is up to the individual reader, as it should be. Hayss introduction, which sketches the life of Marcus Aurelius (emperor of Rome A.D. 161-180) as well as the basic tenets of stoicism, is accessible and jaunty. --H. OBillovich

Rakkasan!
Meditations is on my top-five book list. And I doubt it will ever drop out of it. Marcus identifies the limited value each person in this world possesses using cold, hard truth without offending the ego. Thus enlightened one can then shed the psychologically crippling factors of social expectation, internal and external opinion, and even human mortality. In other words, think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take whats left and live it properly.

I love this book.

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The History of the Church: From Christ to Constantine (Penguin Classics) by Eusebius - Should be required reading for all Christians

2009-12-08T18:32:00.003-08:00

Beginning with persecution at the beginning of the fourth century and ending with the conversion of the Emperor Constantine, the author demonstrates the purity and continuity of the doctrinal tradition of Christianity in its struggle against persecutors and heretics.

Should be required reading for all Christians
As ancient and stiff as Eusebius writing sounds to modern ears, the subject matter of his most famous book nevertheless retains the power to utterly astound. To read Eusebius is to be transported- to hear the Apostles preach in the agoras of the ancient world, and hear the last prayers of the martyrs in the arena; we read the persecution edicts, and the extrabiblical words of Jesus Christ Himself. We listen to the first-hand accounts of the arguments, rumors, controversies and heresies that so disturbed the Early Church. And we can imagine delving the dark archives with Eusebius, who preserved so many valuable snippets of history from too many works which are now lost to the world. A few of the more interesting revelations are:

*a letter written by Jesus Christ to the King of Armenia.
*the existence in Eusebius time of color portraits of Jesus, Peter and Paul, and a statue of Christ, all of which were made from life.
*The actions of Pope Victor in the late 100s, who excommunicated all the Eastern churches because of a disagreement over the date of Easter.
*An account of the continuing argument, at the time of this books composition around 324 AD, over the New Testament canon.
*The extrabiblical deeds of the Apostles.
*A full account of Montanus heresy, as well as many others.
*Transcriptions of early preaching.
*Descriptions of early worship and beliefs.
*The actual words of the Edict of Milan, which legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire.
*Accounts of how the Church dealt with the various persecutions.

Its an exciting and valuable book, both to the secular student of history- who should appreciate the illumination of a dark chapter- and to the Christian above all. If you are a Christian, the life of Christ was the central event in human existence, which should make the history of His Church of primary importance and interest to you. In fact, when it comes to understanding the true Gospel of Jesus, knowledge of the early history of the Church is often a prerequisite to properly interpreting Scripture.

In the first place, we all have an easy time agreeing on the authority of Scripture, but interpreting it has been a different story. When man has tried to interpret Scripture on the basis of Scripture alone, some 33,000 different denominations have been the result. Why not put it in context and study how the early church interpreted the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles? Who has a better understanding of the Gospel? The man in 2008 interpreting it for himself out of his King James Bible, or the people who actually learned it at the feet of Jesus or the Apostles? By reading the history of the early Church, we understand exactly what those first generations of Christians actually believed. It seems ludicrous to think that our detached, individualized Sola Scriptura interpretation is more reliable than their theology and praxis.

In the second place, as Eusebius history attests, as late as the 4th century the Church was still arguing about which books constituted the New Testament. The New Testament was not the rule of Faith for the early Christians since a New Testament per se (not to mention widespread literacy) didnt exist- it was the living faith of the Church, as passed down from generation to generation and kept pure by a clerical hierarchy, which constituted the authority of the faithful. Shouldnt the undisputed historical record of what that early Church believed be a more authoritative measure of the Faith than any modern interpretation based on Scripture alone? This is why historical Christianity has always wisely accounted Scripture and Tradition as two expressions (written and oral) of the same Gospel, which must of course always be in accord. An ancient test of doctrine was whether a certain belief had been held always, everywhere, and by all. By according authority only to Scripture, and denying it to the Faith as it was lived since the beginning, you run into some serious logical and theological problems.

Thats not to say that Eusebius or any extrabiblical history is infallible. For instance, I think the account of Jesus letter to the Armenian king should be taken with a grain of salt. However, when page after page of history speaks with one voice on a certain question -such as the early Churchs belief in Apostolic Succession or clerical hierarchy, shouldnt the honest Christian allow that fact to impact his belief? Thats why inquiring minds should be warned- Cardinal Newman had a pithy saying about being steeped in history: it forces honest Christians to reevaluate their belief systems. We should all know our roots, and Eusebius Ecclesiastical History is a great place to start understanding where we came from and how we got to where we are.

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Essays and Aphorisms (The Penguin Classics) by Arthur Schopenhauer - Sure, the "Buddha of Frankfurt" was no saint, BUT...

2009-12-08T18:32:00.001-08:00

One of the greatest philosophers of the nineteenth century, Schopenhauer (1788-1860) believed that human action is determined not by reason but by will - the blind and irrational desire for physical existence. This selection of his writings on religion, ethics, politics, women, suicide, books and many other themes is taken from Schopenhauers last work, Parerga and Paralipomena, which he published in 1851. These pieces depict humanity as locked in a struggle beyond good and evil, and each individual absolutely free within a Godless world, in which art, morality and self-awareness are our only salvation. This innovative - and pessimistic - view has proved powerfully influential upon philosophy and art, directly affecting the work of Nietzsche, Wittgenstein and Wagner among others.

Sure, the "Buddha of Frankfurt" was no saint, BUT...
I came to Schopenhauer's work reluctantly, having been put off by two things: first, his well-known belligerent attitude towards women (misogyny is an understatement); and second by Nietzsche, who - despite an early infatuation with Schopenhauer - later turned against his "mentor" (of sorts), claiming his work lacked any ethical applicability.

Yet, as an avid reader of philosophy in general, I found myself repeatedly drawn towards Schopenhauer through various resources. After putting my prejudices aside, then, I have to say that I consumed this volume with great enthusiasm and found Schopenhauer to be one of the clearest, most articulate philosophers in the Western tradition. He was, in a word, a genius.

Sure, the "Buddha of Frankfurt" (his nickname) was not saint, but Schopenhauer himself would have been the first to admit it. That said, I think the chapter on women and Nietzsche's complaints should be kept in mind, but not used to disallow the rest of his brilliant methaphysical writing.

I want to mention here, too, that the introduction by R.J. Hollingdale is outstanding and helpful. I have read Kant, but I still found his summary of philosophy leading up to Schopenhauer to be a refreshing and lively review (compared, say, with the dull, unhelpful introduction by Dave Berman in Everyman's edition of The World as Will and Idea). It is hard to sum up Kant's thought in a few pages, but Hollingdale does a great job, I think.

Finally, I don't think you need to have read Kant to understand most of the ideas presented in this text. Also, I have to concur with Schopenhauer's university philosophy professor, G.E. Schulze, who told the young thinker to stick with ONLY Plato and Kant - but to that small list I would now add the name Schopenhauer.

I highly recommend this text for both beginners and experts in the field -it is THAT good...and it just might change your whole perspective, if not your way of life. Amazing!

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The Travels of Marco Polo by Ronald Latham - There And Back Again

2009-12-08T18:31:00.007-08:00

Marco Polo was the most famous traveller of his time. His voyages began in 1271 with a visit to China, after which he served the Kubilai Khan on numerous diplomatic missions. On his return to the West, he was made a prisoner of war and met Rustichello of Pisa, with whom he collaborated on this book. The accounts of his travels provide a fascinating glimpse of the different societies he encountered: their religions, customs, ceremonies and way of life; on the spices and silks of the East; on precious gems, exotic vegetation and wild beasts. He tells the story of the holy shoemaker, the wicked caliph and the three kings, among a great many others, evoking a remote and long-vanished world with colour and immediacy.

There And Back Again
The Travels of Marco Polo is easily one of the most important books in Western literature. Written during the Late Middle Ages, this book has been widely read and appreciated for nearly 700 years. Yet modern readers should note that this is not a modern work meant for pure entertainment. Furthermore, The Travels is not a narrative work in any sense, but rather a collection of anecdotes, observations and impressions of places little understood by Europeans during Polos time. Considerable attention is paid to the products, wild-life, climate and various customs of the places visited by Polo (if indeed he did visit them), yet from this book we know almost nothing about Polo himself or his life during the decades he spent abroad. Thus dont expect a rousing adventure story, but rather a loose collection of stories - some real, some plainly fantastic - similar to those found in the first half of The Histories by Herodotus. Yet this book still offers much to enjoy and is a great read if you can accept the literary conventions of Polos time and take the information presented here with a grain of salt.

Regarding the Penguin edition: this version provides a very useful historical introduction to pre-Renaissance Europe and interesting biographical information about Marco himself. Furthermore, the numerous footnotes throughout the book make clear the differences between the early manuscripts of this work (at times, the extant MSS differ considerably) and the editors do a decent job (for a non-scholarly reader at least) of providing an accurate version of the text.

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Eugenie Grandet (Penguin Classics) by Honoré de Balzac - Misers Daughter Keeps Vow, Cousin Finks Out

2009-12-08T18:31:00.005-08:00

In a gloomy house in provincial Saumur lives the miser Grandet with his wife and daughter, Eugenie, whose lives are stifled and overshadowed by his obsession with gold. Guarding his piles of glittering treasures and his only child equally closely, he will let no one near them. But when the arrival of her handsome cousin, Charles, awakens Eugenies own desires, her passion brings her into a violent collision with her father that results in tragedy for all. Eugenie Grandet is one of the earliest and finest works in Balzacs Comedie humaine cycle, his magnificent panorama of post-Revolutionary French life, which portrays a society consumed by the struggle to amass wealth and achieve power. Here Grandet embodies both the passionate pursuit of money, and the human cost of avarice.

Misers Daughter Keeps Vow, Cousin Finks Out
If Père Goriot is about different kinds of love or passion, EUGENIE GRANDET is definitely about money, greed and miserliness. In the former novel, we see the title character through the eyes of a newcomer to Paris, Eugene de Rastignac. In EUGENIE GRANDET, the dominant personality, bigger than life, still extremely vivid after 175 years, is old Monsieur Grandet, former cooper turned landowner and financial speculator. Eugenie is his daughter whose fate is sealed by her miserly, grasping, scheming father and his overpowering lust for gold. A handsome young cousin from Paris appears---a dandy, the spoiled child of a rich father. We learn at once that his fathers affairs have gone bad; he has committed suicide, a bankrupt. The young people fall in love during Charles stay in the provinces at his uncles penurious table. But, the young man must soon depart for the Indies to seek a new fortune. Meanwhile, two local families vie for Eugenies hand--actually, only for the enormous inheritance which she shall surely receive. The old miser plays them off against each other with great skill. Eugenie refuses all their offers and even resists her domineering father, remaining loyal to her long-lost cousin at the other end of the world. When Charles returns to France, having made a new fortune in the slave trade, he promptly hooks up with a noble family from the capital, re-connecting with his old mistress as well. Eugenie is left alone, but she remains true to her pure, simple ideals, using the fortune that she eventually inherits for good works.

I think this novel is one of the most powerful and best-written studies of a single character ever written. I am talking about the miser, shrewd old M. Grandet. Eugenie and her mother are purer, psychologically less complex, marked in everything by Monsieur Grandets drive to become ever richer. French provincial life at the time in all its dreary repetition and petty rivalries comes alive with Balzacs pen---down to the kind of door knockers they had, the low-stakes card games, the yellow wax tapers. This provincial life, the effect of stinginess on a family, the power of constant love, and above all, a fascination with money and the people who amass it, are themes that mark this most powerful novel. You may think it sounds a rather basic tale, but Balzacs writing, as ever, is powerful and fascinating. One of the great books of world literature ! Dont miss it.

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Pollyanna: Complete and Unabridged (Puffin Classics) by Eleanor H. Porter - A Book for Boys and Girls

2009-12-08T18:31:00.003-08:00

As soon as Pollyanna arrives in Beldingsville to live with her strict and dutiful maiden aunt, she begins to brighten up everybodys life. The glad game she plays, of finding a silver lining in every cloud, transforms the sick, the lonely and the plain miserable - until one day something so terrible happens that even Pollyanna doesnt know how to feel glad about it.

A Book for Boys and Girls
Written by Kurisa Suhr
If you think this book is just for girls - think again! A story that involves overcoming the biggest struggles that life has to throw at you is something that can help everyone. We all face difficult problems in our lives and Pollyanna is a story that will touch your heart. She is a ten year old girl who turns life into a Glad Game and finds a positive way of looking at very difficult challenges in her life. The characters are not just girls and women and the stories are about true problems that we all face. Pollyanna is a special book with a special message for everyone.

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The Mysterious Disappearance of Leon (I Mean Noel) by Ellen Raskin - Named my son Noel because of this book!

2009-12-08T18:31:00.001-08:00

For the answers to many important questions, children should try this story crammed with baffling word puzzles, a dozen zany characters, uproariously funny situations, and unmitigated slapstick.--The Horn Book. Illustrated.

Named my son Noel because of this book!
This was one of my favorite books as a kid. But, as I grew older, I forgot about it. When I was expecting my first child, we were looking for baby names and his father suggested Noel (because I was having the hardest time coming up with a boys name that I liked). As soon as I heard the name Noel, I remembered this story and knew it was meant to be. I am so excited to be able to share this wonderful story with my son, Noel.

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Think Like a Cat: How to Raise a Well-Adjusted Cat--Not a Sour Puss by Pam Johnson-Bennett - vendor review

2009-12-08T18:30:00.008-08:00

A popular cat expert and award-winning author of four books on feline behavior reveals the key to a satisfying and rewarding relationship with your cat.

Think its impossible to train a cat? Think again! Yes, you can learn to understand your cat. No, cats are not always aloof. No, they dont ruin furniture out of spite. Most often feline misbehavior is the result of owners not understanding their cats needs. In this comprehensive book that takes readers through every step of cat ownership, Pam Johnson-Bennett helps you understand the instincts that determine feline behavior, positive and negative. An authoritative resource for cat owners of all stripes, Think Like a Cat covers everything from where to get a kitten to choosing a vet; from basic health care to treating more serious medical problems; from selecting an irresistible scratching post to avoiding litter box problems. A seasoned therapist and former veterinary technician, Johnson-Bennett offers welcome advice in a straightforward manner that will help cats--and their owners--share a happy, healthy life together.

Johnson-Bennetts first book, Cat Love, was chosen by Cat Fancy magazine as one of the best books ever published on cats.

vendor review
The book came very fast and was in the exact condition it was advertised as.

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I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallmann - OUTRAGOUS!

2009-12-08T18:30:00.007-08:00

At the age of 25, Kuki Gallmann moved to Kenya with her future husband, where they established a vast ranch. But Africas beauty doest come without a price, and when tragedy struck, Kuki found herself pregnant and alone with her young son and 90,000 acres of Africa to oversee. 32 pages of photos, half in full color.

OUTRAGOUS!
It was a heart warming story and its one of the things where the book is better than the movie. And it is so sad that it makes it good. I love it and going to get the movie when it comes out and also I'm going to save the book for a long time.

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The Fixer (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) by Bernard Malamud - our modern selves

2009-12-08T18:30:00.005-08:00

Kiev, in the years before World War I, is a hotbed of anti-Semitism. When a 12-year-old Russian boy is found stabbed to death, his body drained of blood, the accusation of ritual murder is made against the Jews. Yokov Bok, a carpenter, is blamed, arrested and imprisoned without indictment.

our modern selves
malamud is an excellent writer. he stoicly captures something that is undefined, but really reflects for me suburban life in jersey and nyc in the sixties (even though this is a book about russia). i liked this book for the humanity it places on the face of suffering at the hands of injustice; how despite all the beatings and deprivations, the character holds on to his essential jewishness. but the book is more than being jewish (which in many ways i am [dont tell this to my orthodox friends)), it is about standing by principles of honesty, integrity, patience, tolerance, and all the other virtues that make life living worthwhile despite whatever else society may say or act.

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On Cooking: A Textbook of Culinary Fundamentals (4th Edition) Textbook only by Pricilla Martel - Fantastic!!!

2009-12-08T18:30:00.003-08:00

For Introductory Cooking, Cooking Skills or Food Prep courses in Culinary Arts, Food and Nutrition and Hospitality Management departments. THE definitive culinary skills textbook in the market. Organized via food types, On Cooking 4/e teaches the hows and the whys of culinary fundamentals; supported by tested, contemporary recipes and supplement package which is second-to-none. NEW! i-COOKStudent Access is a web-based, Recipe Management Tool. Package a 40 week renewable subscription for only $10.00 with On Cooking, 4th edition. i-COOK Student Access Registration , FREE 14 day Trail! Pearson Education is proud to bring world-renowned Dorling Kindersley (DK) products to your classroom. Instantly recognized by their fascinating, full-color photographs and illustrations on every page, With Pearson, you can see DK in a whole new way! For a complete listing of titles, please visit: http://us.dk.com/pearson

Fantastic!!!
I love this book. It has so much great information.
Whether you are looking to be a professional chef or just want more information on cooking this book has it for you!
From sanitation & safety, to history of cooking styles, to food handeling, knife priciples, soups, meats, Oh my gosh this book is a wealth of knowledge and information just waiting for you to explore!
I LOVE IT!

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The New Penguin Russian Course: A Complete Course for Beginners (Penguin Handbooks) by Nicholas J. Brown - Learn Russian

2009-12-08T18:30:00.001-08:00

Whether youre learning alone or attending classes, youll find this complete Russian language course for beginners both accessible and indispensable. Designed to provide the student with an excellent command of basic Russian (the equivalent of A level standard) this book features thirty lessons punctuated by revision exercises to ensure you have fully understood what you have learned. The emphasis is on acquiring vocabulary, experiencing conversational language and learning useful grammar. This book also includes a vocabulary of 1,500 words and a glossary of grammatical terms.

Learn Russian
Great book for learning Russian. Somewhere between a textbook and a simplified study system this book is even better if you have someone helping with pronunciation.
Highly recommended!

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Life and Times of Michael K: A Novel by J. M. Coetzee - Life & Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee

2009-12-08T18:29:00.006-08:00

First published in 1983 and winner of the Booker Prize. Set in a turbulent South Africa, a young gardener decides to take his mother away from the violence towards a new life in the abandoned countryside, but finds that war follows wherever he goes. From the author of DUSKLANDS and IN THE HEART OF THE COUNTRY.

Life & Times of Michael K by J.M. Coetzee
Upon rewarding Coetzee with the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Swedish Academy praised his "Surprising involvement of the outsider." No outsider in his fiction has greater resonance than Michael K, the protagonist of this subtle, compassionate book. He is simple almost to a fault, hare-lipped, and lives a life of sheer existence. Civil war in South Africa drive he and his mother from their home, and they set out on a pilgrimage of sorts to his mother's pastoral hometown. Nothing works as expected, though, and K is soon all alone in a brutal world the polar opposite of the life he lives in his head.

This is one of the masterworks of Coetzee's oeuvre, and with good reason. It is fast-paced, yet descriptive and surprisingly complex. K could well be a symbol of the old South Africa straining to keep its ideals in an apartheid-torn civilization full of malice, starvation and prejudice. Through brilliant writing we enter K's soul and in it a simple desire for peace. He is almost too delicate to live amidst the wreckage, yet maintains an iron will free from materialism that doesn't change the world, but has a profound impact on everything he comes into contact with. Highly recommended.

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Organic Chemistry, Fifth Edition Solutions Manual by Simek - EXCELLENT BOOK

2009-12-08T18:29:00.005-08:00

Contains full solutions to all in-chapter and end-of-chapter problems.

EXCELLENT BOOK
Im in my second semester of organic chemistry and really struggled the first semester because my prof doesnt ellaborate on anything,likes to keep lectures generalized, and believes its best that we learn on our own through the book. The $250 book we had to buy for the class is so wordy and poorly organized. We usually have 7-8 chapters on one exam (about every 3-4 weeks) and some of the chapters are 80-100 pages. When I study things I like the text or my notes I get caught up on the little things if its not neatly/concisely/clearly written. This book is exactly what I love. It uses many colors to perfectly keep things easily readable. I had read hundreds of reviews (Im not even kidding) about how wonderful Wades texts are and how he teaches it as if you were a little kid--its so true. You seriously cannnot read one of his chapters and not understand. I never use my other text anymore even if I know where the info Im looking for is at. It is seriously one of the best science textbooks I have ever had because of how its formated. He also has great examples in it that are useful....like ones that are often on our labs and on quizes/exams. The end of the chapter summaries are the best thing too. He literally sums everything up by writing all of the equations so everything is all on a couple of pages. Ive photocopied many of the chapter reviews because theyre such a concise and clean form of my notes.

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How to Say It: Choice Words, Phrases, Sentences, and Paragraphs for Every Situation by Rosalie Maggio - Excellent Reference for Letter Writers

2009-12-08T18:29:00.003-08:00

A versatile, one-of-a-kind reference with ready-to-use model letters for essentially any situation--business or personal--plus scores of interchangeable key words, phrases, sentences and paragraphs that allow each letter to be tailored to any style the writer wishes to convey.

Excellent Reference for Letter Writers
For those who would like to learn the guidelines for writing letters for personal and business purposes, this book provides clear instructions and a variety of examples.

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Letting Go of the Words: Writing Web Content that Works (Interactive Technologies) (Interactive Technologies) by Janice (Ginny) Redish - I buy this book by the dozen

2009-12-08T18:29:00.001-08:00

Redish has done her homework and created a thorough overview of the issues in writing for the Web. Ironically, I must recommend that you read her every word so that you can find out why your customers wont read very many words on your website -- and what to do about it.;-- Jakob Nielsen, Principal, Nielsen Norman GroupThere are at least twelve billion web pages out there. Twelve billion voices talking, but saying mostly nothing. If just 1% of those pages followed Ginnys practical, clear advice, the world would be a better place. Fortunately, you can follow her advice for 100% of your own sites pages, so pick up a copy of Letting Go of the Words and start communicating effectively today.--Lou Rosenfeld, co-author, Information Architecture for the World Wide WebOn the web, whether on the job or at home, we usually want to grab information and use it quickly. We go to the web to get answers to questions or to complete tasks to gather information, reading only what we need. We are all too busy to read much on the web.This book helps you write successfully for web users. It offers strategy, process, and tactics for creating or revising content for the web. It helps you plan, organize, write, design, and test web content that will make web users come back again and again to your site. Learn how to create usable and useful content for the web from the master Ginny Redish. Ginny has taught and mentored hundreds of writers, information designers, and content owners in the principles and secrets of creating web information that is easy to scan, easy to read, and easy to use. This practical, informative book will help anyone creating web content do it better.Features* Clearly-explained guidelines with full color illustrations and examples from actual web sites throughout the book. * Written in easy-to-read style with many ;befores; and ;afters.;* Specific guidelines for web-based press releases, legal notices, and other documents.* Tips on making web content accessible for people with special needs.Janice (Ginny) Redish has been helping clients and colleagues communicate clearly for more than 20 years. For the past ten years, her focus has been helping people create usable and useful web sites. She is co-author of two classic books on usability: A Practical Guide to Usability Testing (with Joseph Dumas), and User and Task Analysis for Interface Design (with JoAnn Hackos), and is the recipient of many awards.* Clearly-explained guidelines with full color illustrations and examples from actual web sites throughout the book.* Written in easy-to-read style with many ;befores; and ;afters.;* Specific guidelines for web-based press releases, legal notices, and other documents. * Tips on making web content accessible for people with special needs.

I buy this book by the dozen
When Ginny Redish told me that she was going to write a book on web content, I was excited but nervous. Shes the best speaker I know, the most knowledgeable person in our field, and loves sharing that knowledge - would she be able to transfer all of that to the printed page?

And of course, she did - brilliantly. This book makes you feel that youve got Ginny by your side, guiding and helping you to be the best that you could be.

I keep my copy close at hand, and always have a stock of them for clients. Even if you are an expert in writing, usability, or web sites, youll find that Ginny has a way of neatly explaining key concepts that saves you time and effort when you want to get your clients or colleagues to understand them.

If youre getting started in usability or writing for the web, youll find that Ginny guides you from start to excellent finish and makes it all seem easy.

You can imagine how thrilled I was when Ginny graciously agreed that our book Forms that Work: Designing Web Forms for Usability (Interactive Technologies) could be a companion volume to hers. Thanks again, Ginny.

Caroline Jarrett

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East, West by Salman Rushdie - Compelling

2009-12-08T18:28:00.004-08:00

In these nine stories, Salman Rushdie looks at what happens when East meets West, at the forces that pull his characters first in one direction, then the other. Fantasy and realism collide as a rickshaw driver writes letters describing his film star career in Bombay; a mispronunciation leads to romance and an unusual courtship in sixties London; two childhood friends turned diplomats live out in a violent world fantasies hatched by Star Trek; and Christopher Columbus dreams of consummating his relationship with Queen Isabella. The stories in East, West show the extraordinary range and power of Salman Rushdies writing.

Compelling
I loved this book by Rushdie. I was first introduced to it as a selection in a seminar course, and have found myself going back to a number of the stories to re-read them - something I almost never do. The first three stories take place in India and play greatly with Western readers perceptions of Indians and Indian culture. The second selection of three stories takes place in the West. Some are contemporary while one is actually futuristic, bordering on sci-fi. The last three are a fussion of these two worlds. The stories are rich in their imagery, and definitely multi-layered. They prove to be an entertaining read for the casual reader, as well as an extremely intriguing read for those who are involved in a book club or academic enviornment. While some stories are difficult because of the Indian dialect or else due to the point at which the reader is dropped into the story, I would encourage one to keep reading. It will untangle into perhaps one of the best short stories you will encounter, and they are written this way for a reason. With Rushdie, nothing is left to chance, and there is a reason for everything in these stories whether it be the starting point, the dialect, the time frame, a character's name, etc. Definitely get this book. It is worth every penny.

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The Fermata (Vintage Blue) by Nicholson Baker - Adolescent it its sexuality, mature in its view

2009-12-08T18:28:00.003-08:00

The Fermata is the most risky of Nicholson Bakers emotional histories. His narrator, Arno Strine, is a 35-year-old office temp who is writing his autobiography. Its harder than I thought! he admits. His Fold-powers are easier; he can stop the world and use it as his own pleasure ground. Arno uses this gift not for evil or material gain (he would feel guilty about stealing), though he does undress a good number of women and momentarily place them in compromising positions--always, in his view, with respect and love. Anyone who can stop time and refer in self-delight to his chronanisms cant be all bad! Like Bakers other books, The Fermata gains little from synopsis. The pleasure is literally in the text. Whats memorable is less the sex and the sex toys (including the Monasticon, in the shape of a monk holding a vibrating manuscript) than Arnos wistful recollections of intimacy: the noise, for instance, of his ex-girlfriends nail clipper, which I listened to in bed as some listen to real birdsong.

Adolescent it its sexuality, mature in its view
This book is interesting just from the responses people have toward it. Just read the other reviews and you get a flavor. I have given this book to guys and they mostly enjoy it. However, the women who I have given it to have largely disliked it and even been offended. However, I did pass this book onto a woman who worked in a patient care profession in a hospital. She passed it along to her coworkers, all women, who read it and just loved it. I got my very worn copy back several months later.

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The Art of Public Speaking by Stephen Lucas - Great Service

2009-12-08T18:28:00.001-08:00

Lucas The Art of Public Speaking is the leading public speaking textbook in the field. Whether a novice or an experienced speaker when beginning the course, every student will learn how to be a better public speaker through Lucas clear explanations. Creative activities, vivid examples, annotated speech samples, and foundation of classic and contemporary rhetoric provide students a strong understanding of public speaking.

When instructors teach from this textbook, they benefit from Lucas Integrated Teaching Package. The Annotated Instructors Edition and Instructors Manual, both written by Steve Lucas, provide teaching tips and give outlines on how to use the various supplements. As a result, instructors are able to see various teaching examples, how to integrate technology, and analyses and discussion questions for video clips in class. The Annotated Instructors Edition, Instructors Manual, Test Bank, CDs, videos,and other supplements provide instructors the tools needed to create a dynamic classroom. This edition has a supplement to meet the needs of online classes,Teaching Public Speaking Online with The Art of Public Speaking.

Great Service
I received the product in less the amount of time stated. It was exactly what I needed and in great condition. You saved me lots of money. Thanks!

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Burlesque and the Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese by Dita Von Teese - Review of Burlesque and the Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese

2009-12-07T20:15:00.034-08:00

On one side, Dita Von Teese shares the beauty of the burlesque world, with bubblegum dreams and show tunes to strip to. Flip over for fantasies in fetish with dramatic costumes and the allure of submission.

Burlesque and the Art of the Teese

I advocate glamour. Every day. Every minute.

Im a good dancer and a nice girl, but Im a great showgirl. I sell, in a word, magic. Burlesque is a world of illusion and dreams and of course, the striptease. Whether I am bathing in my martini glass, riding my sparkling carousel horse, or emerging from my giant gold powder compact, I live out my most glamorous fantasies by bringing nostalgic imagery to life.

Let me show you my world of gorgeous pin-ups, tantalizing stripteases, and femmes fatales. Ill give you a glimpse into my life, but a lady never reveals all.

Fetish and the Art of the Teese

You may have come for the fetish. Or you may just be sneaking a peek at this mysterious and peculiar other side. No matter what youve come for, there is something for you to indulge in.

My world of fetish may not be the one that you would expect. As a burlesque performer, I entice my audience, bringing their minds closer and closer to sex and then -- as good temptress must -- snatching it away. As a fetish star, I apply the same techniques. . . .

An opera-length kid leather glove, a strict wasp waist, an impossibly high patent leather heel, a severely painted red lip. . . . Come with me into my world of decadent fetishism.

Review of Burlesque and the Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese
Very interesting, nise and creative book. Who likes Dita von Teese, must by her book Burlesque and the Art of the Teese/Fetish and the Art of the Teese

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Skybreaker by Kenneth Oppel - A Terrific Choice for Jr.Hi Boys who are Above-Avg. Readers!

2009-12-07T20:15:00.033-08:00

In this breathtaking sequel to the Governor Generals Award-winning fantasy novel Airborn, 16-year-old Matt Cruse flies higher than he ever dreamed. The former Aurora cabin boy, now a student at the prestigious Paris Airship Academy, is on a two-week training tour with a run-down cargo airship when his captain sights a legendary ghost ship. Matt recklessly heads skyward in pursuit--only to risk sacrificing his entire crew to altitude sickness. The Hyperion, lost in a storm in the dawn of the aviation age and buoyed high above the clouds for 40 years, is rumoured to hold great wealth, and Matt is suddenly the only person on earth who knows her coordinates.

Soon, he and his upper-class sweetheart, Kate de Vries, are embarked on a dangerous aerial treasure hunt, along with Hal, the conceited pilot of a sleek, new altitude-friendly airship, and a mysterious gypsy girl named Nadira, who claims to have the key to the Hyperions booby-trapped treasure troves. Drawing on the myths of Icarus and Prometheus, as well as classic sea adventures like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and The Poseidon Adventure, Skybreaker combines an action-packed thriller with a sensitive exploration of the limits of human ambition. Matts jealousy of the self-made Hal (who he suspects has designs on Kate) and his own furtive attraction to Nadira heighten the emotional tension and raw suspense of the visceral scenes aboard the Hyperion, an ice-entombed version of the Titanic. With pirates, sky monsters, and disturbed spirits, not to mention enough bizarre flying machines to fill an aviation museum (even a bat-copter for Silverwing fans), Skybreaker confirms Kenneth Oppels reputation as Canadas leading fantasy author for children and young adults. --Lisa Alward

A Terrific Choice for Jr.Hi Boys who are Above-Avg. Readers!
I really love this author! I am a junior high school English teacher, and this is a series I have recently come upon that I love recommending to my above-average-reader students, especially boys. Most of them have never heard of it, but they always come back after reading it with such positive reviews. They love it! Its so imaginative and unique and just loaded with old-fashioned action and adventure! The characters are so charming and fun and easy to relate to.
When someone first gave me Airborn, I looked at the cover and thought, Airships? Ick. Boring. But I couldnt have been more mistaken. It was a delightful, compelling read. I enjoyed it thoroughly! And I liked SkyBreaker even more! So original and exciting! Im already watching like a hawk for the next in the series! Cant wait!

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The Tao Is Silent by Raymond M. Smullyan - Totally changed my view of God and Religion

2009-12-07T20:15:00.032-08:00

Much more than a book on Chinese philosophy, THE TAO IS SILENT is a series of ideas inspired by Taoism that treats a wide variety of subjects about life in general. Readers will be charmed and inspired by this witty, sophisticated, yet deeply religious author, whether he is discussing gardening, dogs, the art of napping, or computers who dream that theyre human.

Totally changed my view of God and Religion
My favorite life-changing chapter, is the dialogue between God and the Mortal on free-will. I was raised with the very frightening view of God as punishing, rewarding, unavailable and angry. When I read this chapter, I began to look at God and religion in a very different way. I highly recommend this book - especially if you struggle with the notion of a punitive, angry Ruler of the World. It helped me tremendously.

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The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force by Sharon Begley - Easy to read, very informative book!

2009-12-07T20:15:00.031-08:00

A landmark work that offers new answers to one of the oldest mysteries in human thought: the connection between mind and brain.

Conventional science has long held the position that the mind is merely an illusion, a side effect of electrochemical activity in the physical brain. Now comes a major work, grounded in two decades of research, that argues exactly the opposite: that the mind has a life of its own.

In The Mind and the Brain, Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, a leading researcher in brain dysfunctions, and Wall Street Journal science columnist Sharon Begley demonstrate that the human mind is an independent entity that can shape and control the functioning of the physical brain. Their work has its basis in our emerging understanding of adult plasticity -- the brains ability to be rewired not just in childhood, but throughout life, a trait only recently established by scientists. But in this paradigm-shifting work, Schwartz and Begley take neuroplasticity one critical step further. Through decades of work treating patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Schwartz made an extraordinary finding: while following the therapy he developed, his patients were effecting significant and lasting changes in their own neural pathways. It was a scientific first: by actively focusing their attention away from negative behaviors and toward more positive ones, Schwartzs patients were using their minds to reshape their brains.

The Mind and the Brain follows Schwartz as he investigates this newly discovered power, which he calls self-directed neuroplosticity or, more simply, mental force. It describes his work with noted physicist Henry Stapp to establish the basic mechanics of self-directed neuroplasticity in quantum physics, and reveals its connections with the ancient practice of mindfulness in Buddhist tradition. And it points to potential new applications that could transform the treatment of almost every variety of neurological dysfunction, from dyslexia to stroke -- and could lead to new strategies to help us harness our mental powers.

Yet as wondrous as these implications are, perhaps even more important is the philosophical dimension of Schwartzs work. For the existence of mental force offers convincing scientific evidence of human free will, and thus of mans inherent capacity for moral choice. Challenging the scientific mainstream, Schwartz and Begley suggest boldly that we human beings are more than mere automatons -- that with the ability to shape our brains comes the power to shape our destiny. The conclusions they draw, and the questions they raise, should provoke debate among not only scientists but philosophers, legal scholars, and anyone who cares about the role of man in the universe.

Easy to read, very informative book!

This is the first book I purchased on the subject of neuroplasticity, and I was very suprised that it was so easy to understand. I was glued to this book for a week straight. If you are interested in the brain and neuroplasticity but youre not a scientist, this is the book to buy.

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The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore - Moore, please.

2009-12-07T20:15:00.030-08:00

Reading a Christopher Moore novel is a little like eating a potato chip--its hard to stop at just one. And you dont have to look beyond the titles to understand the allure; who could pass up a book called Practical Demonkeeping or Island of the Sequined Love Nun? Each of Moores tales skewers a particular literary genre. In Coyote Blue he nailed New Age fascination with Native American religion; in Blood-Sucking Fiends: A Love Story he put a new twist on the classic vampire tale. The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove is a companion piece to his first novel, the hilariously twisted horror story Practical Demonkeeping, and readers of that book will recognize the setting, Pine Cove, California. In addition, Moore includes plenty of his patented weird sex, occasional gross-out death, several off-kilter but nonetheless affecting love stories, and some fabulous secondary characters such as Mavis Sand: Mavis first began augmenting her parts in the fifties, first out of vanity: breasts, eyelashes, hair. Later, as she aged and the concept of maintenance eluded her, she began having parts replaced as they failed, until almost half of her body weight was composed of stainless steel (hips, elbows, shoulders, finger joints, rods fused to vertebrae five through twelve), silicon wafers (hearing aids, pacemaker, insulin pump), advanced polymer resins (cataract replacement lenses, dentures), Kevlar fabric (abdominal wall reinforcement), titanium (knees, ankles), and pork (ventricular heart valve). In a nutshell, the plot revolves around a gigantic prehistoric lizard whose slumber deep beneath the ocean surface is interrupted by a radioactive leak from a nearby power plant. At the same time, a woman in Pine Cove hangs herself; the local psychiatrist (who has been prescribing antidepressants to everyone in town with gay abandon) decides the suicide was her fault and yanks everyones medication; and an elderly black blues singer named Catfish Jefferson arrives to perform at the Head of the Slug saloon. Into this already strange brew mix one schizoid former B-movie starlet, a pot-head town constable, a bereaved local artist, a biologist tracking anomalous behavior in rats, a crooked sheriff, and a pharmacist with a bizarre sexual fixation on sea mammals, and you have a recipe for the kind of madness Moore does so well. --Alix Wilber

Moore, please.
I am a recent convert to Christopher Moore and Im loving the catching up with all he has written.

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Island of the Sequined Love Nun by Christopher Moore - can this guy spin a yarn or what!

2009-12-07T20:15:00.029-08:00

Pilot Tucker Case has a weakness--well, Tuck really has two--and the combination of drinking and sex in the cockpit of the pink Mary Jean Cosmetics Learjet puts him on the front page of papers all over the planet. But he finds another job with a mysterious employer--someone with a brand-new Lear 45-- whos willing to pay Tuck generously and ask no questions about his record. The jet and job are on Alualu, a speck in the Pacific Ocean, and Tucker has nowhere else to go. But first he has to get to Alualu, and once there, he faces a hurricane, Shark People, atypical missionaries, and boredom ... and the responsibilities assigned to him by Capt. Vincent Bennidetti, U.S. Air Force, deceased bomber pilot and present-day deity of the Shark People.

can this guy spin a yarn or what!
Chris Moore is in the wrong field he should be writing screenplays. Although Hollywood might not be ready for his intelligence or dark humor. He makes fun of everything including greedy religious cults that prey on the little people.This story also has heart. The characters are so well written they fly off the page and beg you to keep reading.
Plot
Its about a great guy named Tucker he is just like Sam Malone on Cheers,except he still is a severe alcoholic. He has a wonderful job flying jets for Mary Jean Cosmetics until he has sex with a hooker while driving the plane and crashes it. His long suffering boss doesnt throw him in jail like any normal person would do. She gets him a job making 6 figures in the Micronesian Islands flying for missionaries. It may sound too good to be true and it is... but thats all I can tell you. The characters are the kinda weirdos that you ride the city bus/subway with. Heck,he even threw in a sunglass wearing talking fruit bat and a WW2 Flying Ace. I will warn you, he does drop the f bomb alot but if you can overlook that, you will love it.
If he does makes this into a movie here is who is who my dream cast would be

Tucker - Simon Baker
Mary Jean - Carrie Fischer
The high Priestess - Tea Leoni
Dr. Curtis - John Slatterly(from mad men)
malnick -cheech marin
Vincent the flying ace - John Cleese
kimi Tommy chong

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Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.) by Stephen J. Dubner - Thought Provoking.

2009-12-07T20:15:00.027-08:00

Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Freakonomics (written with Stephen J. Dubner), Levitt argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life dont need to be so mysterious: they could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further, to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Elsewhere, by analyzing data gathered from inner-city Chicago drug-dealing gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like McDonalds, where the top bosses make great money while scores of underlings make something below minimum wage. And in a section that may alarm or relieve worried parents, Levitt argues that parenting methods dont really matter much and that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun. These enlightening chapters are separated by effusive passages from Dubners 2003 profile of Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, which led to the book being written. In a book filled with bold logic, such back-patting veers Freakonomics, however briefly, away from what Levitt actually has to say. Although maybe theres a good economic reason for that too, and were just not getting it yet. --John Moe

Thought Provoking.
I dont necessarily agree with all or any of what is written, but it made me think. I am a statistician at work and it was really intriguing to see how the numbers are presented in this book. I highly recommend this to anyone with an open mind.

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The New American Revolution: Using the Power of the Individual to Save Our Nation from Extremists by Tammy Bruce - The New American Revolution: Using the Power of the Individual to Save Our Nation from Extremists

2009-12-07T20:15:00.025-08:00

The New American Revolution

A controversial and powerful manifesto for twenty-first-century American Patriots

Its time to swing back the curtains and invite the light in. And that light is American Nationalism, perennially shunned by the Left, condemned by Socialists, and without any special interest group fighting for its rebirth. It has no legitimate advocates. And yet it is the very idea that will save not only our nation, but the rest of the world as well, declares Tammy Bruce.

With this remarkable book, the bestselling author, activist, and independent pundit pulls no punches, illustrating how a new American revolution is upon us -- a revolution based on American Nationalism and Individualism.

Grounded in reason, classical philosophy, and hard-earned experience, Bruce explores the dramatic shift in American attitudes since the tragedy of September 11. She illustrates how in our effort to take this nation back from nihilistic extremists, American Nationalism, individualism, gun ownership, the tearing down of liberal institutions, personal activism, and knowing the enemy are the new tools for todays Patriot.

The Hate America First ideology has prevailed for far too long, says Bruce, and she now offers a powerful prescription to reverse the moral and cultural decay wrought by Leftist extremists for four decades. This power to stem the tide resides squarely within the reawakened American founding concept of E Pluribus Unum, or Out of Many, One. It is this ingrained individualist spirit of the average American that makes this country the best nation on earth, and now fuels the noble fight against the scourge of the Collectivist Left.

In a positive framework with empowering ideas, insight, and tools for direct action, Bruce has captured a watershed moment in American history.

The New American Revolution: Using the Power of the Individual to Save Our Nation from Extremists
Good book

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Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Elliott Friedman - Great Read, Great Insights

2009-12-07T20:15:00.023-08:00

J, P, E, and D are the names scholars have given to some authors of the Bible, and, as such, they are very important letters to a lot of people. Churches have died and been born, and millions of people have lost faith or found it, because of the last two centuries of debate about who, exactly, wrote the canonical texts of Christianity and Judaism. Richard Elliott Friedmans survey of this debate, in Who Wrote the Bible?, may be the best written popular book about this question. Without condescension or high-flown academic language, Friedman carefully describes the history of textual criticism of the Bible--a subject on which his authority is unparalleled (Friedman has contributed voluminously to the authoritative Anchor Bible Dictionary). But this book is not just smart. Perhaps even more impressive than Friedmans erudition is his sensitivity to the power of textual criticism to influence faith. --Michael Joseph Gross

Great Read, Great Insights
The book focuses on the identity and origins of the writers of the Hebrew Bible. While Friedman presents his hypothesis on who wrote the major sections, he does so in such a way as to preserve the academic integrity of the research he conducted. The style is designed for the layperson, and is secular in approach. Those looking for an apologetic or religious text should probably look elsewhere.

Strongly recommended as an intro text, or to anyone looking for a very readable text on Biblical origins.

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Then He Ate My Boy Entrancers: More Mad, Marvy Confessions of Georgia Nicolson by Louise Rennison - Whoo!

2009-12-07T20:15:00.021-08:00

Let the overseas snogfest begin!

Georgia and Jas are off to Hamburger-a-gogo land! Georgia plans to track down Masimo, the Italian-American dreamboat, but after a long week in America, she only succeeds in learning importantish things -- like how to ride a bucking bronco. Will Georgia reel in the Italian dreamboat? Or is she destined to live forever all aloney on her owney?

Whoo!
Even though I skipped 2 books, and read this right after Knocked Out By My Nunga Nungas, so it didnt make much sense. Still lovely though, and if you boy it from Amazon you get a extra CD in the inside cover, with a lovely interview by Miss. Rennison :]

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The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls by Elise Primavera - Love Great Books? This is for you...

2009-12-07T20:15:00.019-08:00

Franny longs for adventure but cant even do a cartwheel. Pru can do a cartwheel but prefers hiding under her quilt making up safety tips. Cat has no use for safety tips but supposedly has ESP. And Ivy has had a seven-year string of bad luck—a Jinx thats about to get a whole lot worse.

The four are thrown together when a pair of mysterious ruby red slippers turn up, along with the fashionably mad Cha-Cha Staccato, who bears a frightening resemblance to a certain wicked witch. . . .

As hilarious as it is original, The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls is an unforgettable take on girlhood, piano recitals, The Wizard of Oz, and the dependable everyday magic of true friendship.

Love Great Books? This is for you...
What can I say? My daughter read this book, then came to me saying, "Mom. You. Have. To. Read. This. Book. Amazing." So, I reluctantly read the book, all the while thinking, "Why am I reading a children's book?" But by the third chapter, I was hooked. The lives of Pru, Cat, Franny, and Ivy were truly engaging. I went into Gumm Street thinking that I would just make my daughter happy, but ended up making Elise Primavera's Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls one of my favorites. This book is magical, portraying friendship, and even The Wizard of Oz, in an unexpectedly refreshing light. I, and my daughter, are satisfied, and recommend this book to absolutely anyone!

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Bull! : A History of the Boom, 1982-1999: What drove the Breakneck Market--and What Every Investor Needs to Know About Financial Cycles by Maggie Mahar - Buy and hold does not work

2009-12-07T20:15:00.017-08:00

In Bull!, Maggie Mahar tells the sweeping tale of the Great Bull Market of 1982–1999, a legendary run-up that pulled the entire nation into its gravitational field.

Mahar lays out the origins of the boom and takes the reader behind the scenes, on Wall Street, on Main Street, and in Washington, letting him see the story through the eyes of the fund managers, market gurus, analysts, politicians, business journalists, and 401(k) investors who, together, helped create the longest-running bull market in U.S. history. Some were touts; others were true believers. On the sidelines, a Greek Chorus of seasoned professionals tried, vainly, to describe the emperors new clothes.

Filled with colorful portraits of many of the central figures of the boom years -- Alan Greenspan, Henry Blodget, James Cramer, Abby Joseph Cohen -- Bull! draws together a complex cast of characters, illuminating the web of relationships that kept the market aloft.

More than a financial history, Bull! is a lively, often witty social history of the stock market that became a part of popular culture. It is also the tale of individual investors, which chronicles the intimate stories of ordinary people -- housewives and college professors, salesmen and waitresses -- who got caught up in the excitement and then watched their life savings drain away.

How did it happen that the very real risks of investing in stocks were forgotten? Mahar explodes the myth of stocks for the long run, explaining how the markets promoters crunched the numbers to create the illusion that if an investor stays in the casino just a little longer, he is guaranteed to come out a winner. Casting Warren Buffett in a new light, she explains how a value investor is, in the end, a long-term market timer who understands that success depends on how much you pay when you get into the market -- and when you get out. By putting the bull market of 1982–1999 in a larger historical context, she shows how, over time, longtime bull markets beget longtime bear markets.

The future defies prediction, but the history of financial markets makes one thing clear: markets always revert to a mean. Taken as a single story, Bull! is both an illuminating history and a cautionary tale about investing. Analyzing the economic and psychological forces that drive financial cycles, Mahar shows how an extraordinary influx of cash and credit, combined with the obsessive attention of a new financial media, created a cult of equities. Challenging the notion that stocks always outperform all other investments, she reveals why many of Wall Streets most experienced investors believe that the 21st-century investor needs to throw out the old rule book and make a new beginning as he plans for his financial future.

No investor should keep his or her money in the stock market without first reading this book.

Buy and hold does not work
The bull market history sheds light on todays volatile stock market - well paced, read quickly and came away with the cardinal lesson buy and hold is a myth that does not work. Read how people caught in that trap were led to financial ruin, then look at how you are investing today. Good perspective. Good read.

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Bull: A History of the Boom and Bust, 1982-2004 by Maggie Mahar - "Buy and hold" does not work

2009-12-07T20:15:00.015-08:00

In 1982, the Dow hovered below 1000. Then, the market rose and rapidly gained speed until it peaked above 11,000. Noted journalist and financial reporter Maggie Mahar has written the first book on the remarkable bull market that began in 1982 and ended just in the early 2000s. For almost two decades, a colorful cast of characters such as Abby Joseph Cohen, Mary Meeker, Henry Blodget, and Alan Greenspan came to dominate the market news.

This inside look at that 17-year cycle of growth, built upon interviews and unparalleled access to the most important analysts, market observers, and fund managers who eagerly tell the tales of excesses, presents the period with a historical perspective and explains what really happened and why.

"Buy and hold" does not work
The bull market history sheds light on today's volatile stock market - well paced, read quickly and came away with the cardinal lesson "buy and hold" is a myth that does not work. Read how people caught in that trap were led to financial ruin, then look at how you are investing today. Good perspective. Good read.

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The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet - Worth The Price

2009-12-07T20:15:00.013-08:00

They insist they are just a group of friends, yet they funnel millions of dollars through tax-free corporations. They claim to disdain politics, but congressmen of both parties describe them as the most influential religious organization in Washington. They say they are not Christians, but simply believers.

Behind the scenes at every National Prayer Breakfast since 1953 has been the Family, an elite network dedicated to a religion of power for the powerful. Their goal is Jesus plus nothing. Their method is backroom diplomacy. The Family is the startling story of how their faith—part free-market fundamentalism, part imperial ambition—has come to be interwoven with the affairs of nations around the world.

Worth The Price
This is an excellent book about an important subject. It seamlessly blends history, journalism (Gonzo & traditional), philosophy and theology in a slick popular style. Jeff Sharlet has clearly been immersed in this subject for a long time; the writing is assured, controlled and ferocious.

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What Would Joey Do? (Joey Pigza Books) by Jack Gantos - Excellent Way to conclude the Joey Pigza Trilogy!

2009-12-07T20:15:00.011-08:00

Modern literatures unlikely hero Joey Pigza is back in Jack Gantoss grand finale to the award-winning trilogy that began with Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key and the Newbery Honor book Joey Pigza Loses Control. Joey, the sweetest, funniest kid on meds youll ever meet, has enough trouble trying to keep his active self together. How can he win in his new, self-assumed role as Mr. Helpful when his divorced parents are out of control, his Grandma is surly and morbid, and Olivia, the mean blind girl hes forced to homeschool with, calls him a hyper retard? Even Olivias religious mother cant save him with her What would Jesus do? refrain. As his world of flawed adults spins around him in carnivalesque chaos, Joey has to decide on a daily basis what he, Joey, should do. At least he has Pablo, his loyal Chihuahua mutt, his lucky charm. Or at least he does until his maniacal father (complete with restraining order) kidnaps the dog to lure Joey out of the house.

Joey is a wonderful character, and his first-person narrative is both hilarious and heartbreaking. Sadly, it is his dying grandmother who knows him best: You know, Joey, if you didnt wear those med patches, youd just be thinking about yourself, and you wouldnt care about making everyone happy. Your problem is that you got better, and the rest of the world didnt. While it is more rewarding to have read the previous Joey books before this one, it is not mandatory. Still, all three Joey books are memorable, honest, fresh, exciting, truly eye-opening, and should not be missed by child or adult. (Ages 10 and older) --Karin Snelson

Excellent Way to conclude the Joey Pigza Trilogy!

Joey has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He cant focus, cant be understood by most, cant ease his tension, excitement, stress, and anxiety much at all. Joey lives with his alcoholic, trouble-filled mother and dying, smoking-fiend grandmother. Joeys father is out of the picture: his parents are divorced, and his father never was and will probably never be the father every dad should be. Occasionally, when Joeys mother and father do see or even exist in each others presence, conflict and violence break out almost instantaneously. Joey has gone through numerous schools, none ever working for him. Joey has two friends: his Chihuahua, Pablo, and a blind girl named Olivia, who is the only other student in his school- a devout Christian woman who teaches Joey and her daughter in her home. To just name a few examples, most can obliviously conclude on the apparent difficulties that lie in Joey Pigzas life, every single day. However, in the final book of the Joey Pigza trilogy, Joey goes up against all odds and shows the world his true character- not the dysfunctional outcast he appears to be, but the kind, positive, humble kid he actually is, with a helping hand and a heart of gold to all.
With a Mr. Helpful label taped to his forehead and a smile on his face, Joey Pigza takes you through his last story in What Would Joey Do?. With more pressing issues arising and more problems being solved, Joey discovers real facts of life. In this final book, he tries his best to make himself the best person he can be- less of a problem-starter; more of a problem-solver. Not only does he help others, but he also realizes that he can and is able to make choices on his own; that he is responsible and mature enough, ADHD or no ADHD, to function and live like every other extraordinary person. What Would Joey Do? and the Joey Pigza trilogy is by far one of the best young-adult series I have ever read, and I would recommend it to anyone of any age who loves a great read on overcoming weaknesses and living life to the fullest.

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Maybe You Never Cry Again by Bernie Mac - STILL MISSING THE MAC-MAN

2009-12-07T20:15:00.009-08:00

By the tender of age of five, Bernie Mac had found his calling: making others laugh. Now this amazing comedian delves deep inside to share the poignant story of his childhood and the people who shaped him into the strong, self-reliant man and ruthlessly funny comedian he is today.

When Bernie was just sixteen, he lost his mother to cancer.

A tough but loving teacher, she showered the unwilling boy with life lessons and Mac-isms that would later carry him through many hardships and give him strength during his slow rise to stardom. Maybe You Never Cry Again recounts this ascent in hilarious detail, from eight-year-old Bernies stand-up comedy performance at a church dinner to open mike nights in Chicago, the jobs he juggled to make ends meet and eventually, his success in entertaining huge audiences on stage, in film, and on television.

Maybe You Never Cry Again is a powerful testament to how a mothers love makes everything possible.

STILL MISSING THE MAC-MAN
I enjoyed MAYBE YOU NEVER CRY AGAIN more than ANY book I have ever read. I read the book in only a few hours. As I have always been a fan of Bernies, the book made me laugh and cry. When Im having a bad day or moment, the book actually helps me get through it...I might think about something silly that Bernie said like rederfrine and I start laughing like crazy. I used to watch the Bernie Mac Show every night...and still do because I have the complete season on DVD. Sure Bernie was not a perfect human being--as none of us are--but his comedy was the closet to perfection. Unfortunately, I never had the chance to personally meet Bernie. But, certainly, he was the coolest cat that I have ever seen on and off TV. No one can dress like Bernie!!! And, he had the prettiest teeth/smile in the world!!! I miss you sorely, MAC MAN!!!

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Almost Perfect Moment, An: A Novel (P.S.) by Binnie Kirshenbaum - Kirshenbuam is an amazing writer

2009-12-07T20:15:00.007-08:00

In Brooklyn, in the Age of Disco, Valentine Kessler -- a sweet Jewish girl who bears a remarkable resemblance to the Virgin Mary of Lourdes -- has an unerring gift for shattering the dreams and hopes of those who love her. Miriam, her long-suffering mother, betrayed and anguished by the husband she adores, seeks solace in daily games of mah-jongg with The Girls, a cross between a Greek Chorus and Brooklyns rendition of the Three Wise Men, who dispense advice, predictions, and care in the form of poppy-seed cake and apple strudels. When her greatest fear for Valentine is realized, Miriam takes comfort in the thought that it couldnt get any worse. And then it does.

Sagacious, sorrowful, and hilarious, An Almost Perfect Moment is a novel about mothers and daughters, star-crossed lovers, doctrines of the divine, and a colorful Jewish community that once defined Brooklyn.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

Kirshenbuam is an amazing writer
Binnie Kirshenbaum's An Almost Perfect Moment is a lovely book that takes us back to (secular)Jewish Brooklyn in the 70's, days of Mah-jongg and strudel, when neighbors were tightly knit friends and a primary support system and teenagers (then, as always) had to find their way. Kirshenbaum's characters are as real as biting into a peach and just as delicious. The main characters are the mother/daughter pair of Miriam and Valentine Kessler. Miriam is a strong, loving, overweight adoring mother who refuses to wallow in self-pity despite her shattered dreams, frustrated desires and unimaginable losses. Valentine is a teenager who identifies with the Virgin Mary and develops more than a small curiosity with her high school math teacher and the Catholic religion.

Kirshenbaum has quickly become one of my favorite contemporary writers. She achieves a perfect balance between rich characters and a compelling story. She has keen insight into the connection between humor and pain which is ever-present in life, and this counter-intuitive combination has a distinctly Jewish flavor.

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The Other Side of the Story: A Novel by Marian Keyes - Page turner - charming, realistic, funny, smart

2009-12-07T20:15:00.005-08:00

Life is a circle, and what goes around, comes around. Just ask a trio of unforgettable women in Marian Keyess enchanting new novel ...

Energetic, ambitious, and sexy, literary agent Jojo Harvey combines Jessica Rabbits body with a mind like a steel trap. As if watching her back while on the corporate ladder and making million-dollar deals wasnt difficult enough, Jojos having a relationship with her boss. Her married boss.

Tall, slender, and blond, bestselling author Lily Wright, one of Jojos clients, worries about bad karma and the second novel she cant seem to write but must deliver -- shes already spent the advance. Anton, the Love of Her Life, persuaded her to buy their dream house.

Events organizer extraordinaire Gemma Hogan was best friends with Lily -- until the willowy blonde stole Anton, a.k.a. the Love of Her Life. Juggling the demands of her newly separated (and desperately needy) mom, Gemmas social life is flatlining -- a mortifying situation that makes for hilarious e-mails to a friend. Tales so funny, they come to the attention of top literary agent Jojo Harvey, who takes Gemma on as a client ...

Written in the charming and chatty voice that has become Marian Keyess signature style, this hilarious and heartwarming new novel proves there are three sides to every story ... especially in the world of publishing!

Page turner - charming, realistic, funny, smart
After many months of keeping this book in the shelf, I decided to give what I thought would be a brainless, simplistic and fantastic piece of chick lit a try... just to find myself wrapped in a fabulous, engaging page-turning book with realistic stories and characters, and a wonderful sense of humor. Give it a try... and I guarantee youll find yourself not picking up the remote control for at least a week...

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The Childrens Blizzard (P.S.) by David Laskin - The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin

2009-12-07T20:15:00.003-08:00

Thousands of impoverished Northern European immigrants were promised that the prairie offered land, freedom, and hope. The disastrous blizzard of 1888 revealed that their free homestead was not a paradise but a hard, unforgiving place governed by natural forces they neither understood nor controlled, and America's heartland would never be the same.

This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

The Children's Blizzard by David Laskin
As I was doing research for the fourth installment of my cozy mystery series (hereafter known as "Jig of Bones"), I ran across this book. It's not fiction. It's also not in any way fun to read. It's horrific, but I think it should be a part of every American's historical education. It is the story of a blizzard, followed by deep cold, that struck the Great Plains on January 11-13, 1888. The event is sometimes called the school children's blizzard because so many school children died in it. It came into being when several extreme weather conditions met, and literally exploded into the country from Canada.

The book weaves together the story of the weather that created the storm, the histories and eyewitness accounts of settlers who were affected, the actions of the only weather forecasting system available then (a department of the U.S. Army), and much more to give a fascinating and terrifying "you were there" look at this event.

I cannot imagine living like those early settlers lived, even on their good days. In comparison to them, most of us Americans now are a soft, spoiled, sometimes pathetic, bunch of whiners. I salute them and the determination to survive that they bequeathed to us as a nation.

Please get a copy of this book and read it-only you might want to wait until a very hot day, because it will chill you to the bone.

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Small Wonder: Essays by Barbara Kingsolver - Not a fun read, but a GREAT read

2009-12-07T20:15:00.001-08:00

Readers familiar with Barbara Kingsolver will find that Small Wonder, a collection of 23 essays, shows the same sensitivity and thoughtfulness, the same rich knowledge of and love for the natural world, as her spellbinding novels. In Knowing Our Place, she describes the two places in which she writes: a tin-roof cabin in Appalachia and her home in the Tucson desert. In Setting Free the Crabs, she uses her daughters decision not to take home a beautiful (and occupied) red conch shell from a Mexican beach to illustrate our own need to give up our sense of ownership of the earth, to resist the hunger to possess all things bright and beautiful. Many of these pieces, like the lovely title essay, were written (or rewritten) in response to the events of September 11, which threw into relief the growing social and economic inequities that are so little remarked on in the American media. These are political essays, although Kingsolver is not a natural rhetorician; her prose is too supple and inclusive. She is more inclined to follow the turns of her mind, like water in a curving stream bed, than to hammer home a point or two. But she has a rare gift for apt allusion (from sources as wide-ranging as Robert Frost to Beanie Babies) and for the elegant use of facts and figures. And she is highly quotable. It is easy to imagine the speechwriters and activists of the next 10 years dipping into Small Wonder for inspiration and the perfect phrase. --Regina Marler

Not a fun read, but a GREAT read
We just discussed this book at our book club and it was described as "broccoli". It's a book you should read, but isn't one you exactly race back to reading any change you get. This book makes you think, which is great in modern day culture. We discussed the book for 2 hours and didn't even cover at least 1/2 the topics we could have discussed. WARNING: If read with an open mind, it can lead you to make small changes in your life and your community and appreciate all the small wonders in your own life.

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Born Again by Charles Colson - A Great Story of God's Ability to Change People!

2009-12-06T18:49:00.011-08:00

In 1974 Charles W. Colson pleaded guilty to Watergate-related offenses and, after a tumultuous investigation, served seven months in prison. In his search for meaning and purpose in the face of the Watergate scandal, Colson penned Born Again. This unforgettable memoir shows a man who, seeking fulfillment in success and power, found it, paradoxically, in national disgrace and prison. In more than three decades since its initial publication, Born Again has brought hope and encouragement to millions. This remarkable story of new life continues to influence lives around the world. This expanded edition includes a brand-new introduction and a new epilogue by Colson, recounting the writing of his bestselling book and detailing some of the ways his background and ministry have brought hope and encouragement to so many.

A Great Story of God's Ability to Change People!
"Born Again" is the story of Chuck Colson's life from the Nixon presidency to his release from the Maxwell AFB prison facility with some comments on his early life.

The first 250 or so pages deal with his time serving Nixon and of the circumstances that led to his accepting Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord. The book's last 100 pages or so deal with his relationships with other prisoners in the Maxwell facility.

Indeed, some skeptics question whether Colson had a true conversion and is using the book to promote himself. If so, then why does Colson mention a positive change in relationships with his political enemies after becoming a Christian? Indeed, one of his strongest supporters (Harold Hughes) was a Democratic senator from Iowa (Colson was a Republican). Oh well!

The book flows freely and is intensely interesting. "Born Again" reflects the popularity and enjoyable reading of other Colson books. Whether you are a Republican or Democrat (sorry political junkies, God is neither!), a Colson supporter or hater, a Nixon supporter or hater, you will enjoy Colson's "Born Again".

Colson's prison experience was not wasted. God used this time to burden Colson with the need to minister to prisoners today through the worldwide Prison Fellowship ministry. Yet again, God can take something good out of something bad.

Read and enjoy the book and be challenged to realize that despite your background, God can work great and mighty things through a person who is surrendered to Him!

Highly recommended.

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Teach Yourself VISUALLY Windows Vista (Teach Yourself VISUALLY (Tech)) by Paul McFedries - Just what I needed

2009-12-06T18:49:00.009-08:00

This book puts visual learners at ease by showing them how to maximize the new Windows features and interface
Concise explanations walk readers through more than 150 Windows Vista tasks, covering everything from customizing their desktop to maintaining Windows Vista and networking with another computer or printer
Explores the new interface and folder organization system of Vista, both of which enable users to find documents and files more easily than ever
Covers the latest release of MovieMaker, Media Player, Internet Explorer, and the new Media Center feature added to Vista
Features full-color screenshots and clear, step-by-step instructions

Just what I needed
I had purchased this book for XP and liked seeing the pictures and the descriptions. Now that I have Vista, when I have a question it is
easy to look up what I need. I am a visual person so for me this is great. This book is very helpful.

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Anatomy & Physiology: The Unity of Form and Function by Kenneth Saladin - Exactly what I needed.

2009-12-06T18:49:00.007-08:00

From the completely new, exceptional art program, to the complete integration of the text with technology, Saladin has formed a teaching solution that will both motivate and enable your students to understand and appreciate the wonders of anatomy and physiology. This distinctive text was developed to stand apart from all other A&P texts with unparalleled art, a writing style that has been acclaimed by both users and reviewers and clinical coverage that offers the perfect balance without being too much. Saladin's well-accepted organization of topics is based upon the most logical physiological ties between body systems. The text requires no prior knowledge of college chemistry or cell biology, and is designed for a two-semester A&P college course.

Exactly what I needed.
This is a used 4th edition book, however, it is just like brand new. The 5th edition was required for my Anatomy and Physiology 1 class, however the professor said the 4th edition would be fine. This saved me $160!! Thanks!

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